Article 1. General Provisions of California Government Code >> Division 3. >> Title 2. >> Part 4. >> Chapter 5. >> Article 1.
(a) The Legislature finds and declares that it is in the
public interest to assist residents of the State of California in
obtaining compensation for the pecuniary losses they suffer as a
direct result of criminal acts.
(b) This chapter shall govern the procedure by which crime victims
may obtain compensation from the Restitution Fund.
(c) Any reference in statute or regulations to Article 1
(commencing with Section 13959) of Chapter 5, as it read on December
31, 2002, shall be construed to refer to this chapter.
As used in this chapter, the following definitions shall
apply:
(a) "Board" means the California Victim Compensation and
Government Claims Board.
(b) (1) "Crime" means a crime or public offense, wherever it may
take place, that would constitute a misdemeanor or a felony if the
crime had been committed in California by a competent adult.
(2) "Crime" includes an act of terrorism, as defined in Section
2331 of Title 18 of the United States Code, committed against a
resident of the state, whether or not the act occurs within the
state.
(c) "Derivative victim" means an individual who sustains pecuniary
loss as a result of injury or death to a victim.
(d) "Law enforcement" means every district attorney, municipal
police department, sheriff's department, district attorney's office,
county probation department, and social services agency, the
Department of Justice, the Department of Corrections, the Department
of the Youth Authority, the Department of the California Highway
Patrol, the police department of any campus of the University of
California, California State University, or community college, and
every agency of the State of California expressly authorized by
statute to investigate or prosecute law violators.
(e) "Pecuniary loss" means an economic loss or expense resulting
from an injury or death to a victim of crime that has not been and
will not be reimbursed from any other source.
(f) "Peer counseling" means counseling offered by a provider of
mental health counseling services who has completed a specialized
course in rape crisis counseling skills development, participates in
continuing education in rape crisis counseling skills development,
and provides rape crisis counseling within the State of California.
(g) "Victim" means an individual who sustains injury or death as a
direct result of a crime as specified in subdivision (e) of Section
13955.
(h) "Victim center" means a victim and witness assistance center
that receives funds pursuant to Section 13835.2 of the Penal Code.