In Honor of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, Everytown Launches Roadmap to Removing Barriers to Victim Compensation Funds

New Analysis Reveals Systemic Hurdles and Racial Disparities in State Compensation Systems, Calling for Urgent Reforms to Support Gun Violence Survivors

NEW YORK – In honor of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund today released a new guide to help victims navigate the complex and sometimes restrictive state victim compensation systems. The report, Hurdles to Healing: Removing Barriers to Victim Compensation Funds, reveals how administrative red tape and outdated eligibility rules frequently deny critical financial aid to those who need it most.

Despite the $405 million paid out nationwide in FY 2024, nearly 30% of all applications were denied, often for reasons as simple as incomplete paperwork. These barriers disproportionately harm Black survivors, who are significantly more likely to be denied based on subjective assessments of their behavior before or after a crime. By allowing subjective characterizations of a victim’s background or behavior to dictate eligibility, the current system frequently denies support to the very communities most impacted by gun violence.

“Accessing compensation should be a pathway to healing, not an additional source of trauma for survivors of gun violence,” said Sonali Rajan, Senior Director of Research at Everytown for Gun Safety. “Our research shows that while these funds are vital for covering medical and funeral costs, systemic barriers routinely leave the most impacted communities behind. This new guide provides actionable solutions for lawmakers to ensure that every survivor can access the resources they need.”

“Despite the evidence, I was forced to prove that my son was a victim of homicide in order to access support. Navigating the appeals process while I was grieving was both heartbreaking and exhausting,” said Sarah Burdine, Vice President of the Oklahoma Homicide Survivors Support Group and an Everytown for Gun Safety Survivor Fellow. “I’ve witnessed families being denied help due to biased assumptions about their loved one’s character or past – even when those factors are irrelevant to the crime in question. No one should have to prove their child didn’t cause their own murder just to get basic help.”

Key findings from this report include:

• Nationwide, nearly three in ten victim compensation applications were denied in FY 2024, with some states seeing denial rates as high as 69%.
• Black applicants are disproportionately denied aid; one study found Black families were nearly 60% of those denied for “contributory conduct,” despite accounting for only 46% of claimants.
• Incomplete information is the number-one reason for denials, underscoring the need for simpler, more accessible application processes. Other barriers include restrictive eligibility criteria, contributory conduct denials, police reporting requirements, tight timelines and slow processing, gaps in victim awareness, and more.
• Average payouts vary wildly by state, ranging from as little as $470 in Utah to nearly $7,000 in Illinois.

Everytown’s report calls on state lawmakers and administrators to streamline their systems by extending filing deadlines, expanding outreach beyond law enforcement settings, and removing rules that penalize victims for past criminal history or for receiving community donations like GoFundMe.

By adopting trauma-informed practices – such as those recently enacted in New York – states can ensure that the “payer of last resort” becomes a reliable safety net. No survivor should be forced to choose between financial ruin and the medical care or funeral services their loved ones deserve. State by state victim compensation links can be accessed here, and all VOCA compensation data is linked here.