FAIRCOM – Comment about workshop on compensation for victims of sexual crimes in Madrid

On 25th of February 2020 a workshop to discuss draft recommendations on state and offender compensation took place at the University Carlos III of Madrid.

The workshop brought together different legal practitioners: judges, public prosecutors, Ministry of Justice representatives, court clerks, lawyers and members of General Council of Judiciary.

The workshop started with the general presentation of the FAIRCOM Project and the Report “Fair and Appropriate? Compensation of Victims of Sexual Violence in EU Member States: Greece, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands and Spain”.

The main part of the workshop was dedicated to the SWOT analysis of Spanish compensation system and the draft recommendations.

Several recommendations on the improvement of Spanish system of State compensations were pointed out, for example:

  1. availability of the compensation regardless of the outcome of the judicial process;
  2. extend the time limit to apply for the compensation;
  3. resolution within an appropriate time and with no charges.

In respect to the the compensation by the offender, it was recommended:

  1. to ensure an adherence to the criminal proceedings,
  2. to standardise compensation request form,
  3. to improve the enforcement of sentences, among other topics