Victim Compensation Orders Granted by Courts

Ms Sylvia Lim asked the Minister for Law (a) how many victim compensation orders have been granted by the Courts under section 359 of the Criminal Procedure Code in 2012 and 2013 respectively; and (b) what is the range of compensation amounts awarded and for what types of offences.

Mr K Shanmugam: Section 359 of the Criminal Procedure Code allows for claims for compensation in criminal proceedings and makes it mandatory for a court convicting a person of any offence to consider whether a compensation order should be made. Thus, it has been made compulsory that in every criminal case, the court will have to consider compensation – this was done to help all victims. It is the easiest way for them to get compensation. The number of victim compensation orders that were granted by the Courts under section 359 of the Criminal Procedure Code in 2012 and 2013 can be found in the table below.

Of the compensation orders made in 2012 and 2013, more than 70% were made in relation to cases involving hurt, mischief and theft. The remaining cases involved other offences, including cheating. In 70% of all instances where compensation orders were made, the compensation amounts were less than $2,000. In 20% of these cases, the compensation amounts were between the range of $2,000 to $10,000. The remaining 10% were above $10,000 with the highest being $63,716.