Thousands of Indiana residents are waiting — and waiting — for help from an understaffed, ill-equipped state program aimed at reimbursing innocent victims of violent crimes for medical bills and other expenses, the Indianapolis Star reports. Tomorrow, a state legislative committee will hold a hearing to delve into the problems of the fund.
In July, the Star documented the wide-ranging problems of the state’s Violent Crime Victims Compensation Fund. The Star found that the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute, the state agency that administers the fund, has not reviewed the vast majority of the more than 3,500 applications for assistance filed since 2006. The backlog means violent-crime victims or their families might not learn until years after a slaying or an assault whether the state will help cover funeral or hospital bills.