12/12/2013 // West Palm Beach, Florida, US // JusticeNewsFlash // Justice News Flash // (press release)

California – Officials in California are now considering whether to allow compensation for prostitutes who are victims of rape and other violent crimes. As reported by the Associated Press (AP), the change would modify a decades old anti-crime regulation provision that excludes prostitutes from receiving money from a victims compensation fund due to their activities being illegal.

According to Jon Myers, deputy executive officer of the Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board, the state is the only state to have such a provision. Myers is quoted by the AP as stating, “We’re kind of all alone on that…The idea, back in the late ’90s, was to get tougher on crime.”

Several organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union have been seeking to have the rules changed.

Kent Scheidegger, legal director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, is further quoted as stating of the rules, “Prostitution is a crime, but it’s a minor one…If someone’s been a victim of a major crime like rape or battery, it shouldn’t disqualify them from restitution.”

This report is provided by Justice News Flash – California Legal News

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