Crime and abuse

The chances of becoming a victim of crime are relatively small. In many cases it is the fear of crime that is greater than the actual crime itself.

But if you are unlucky enough to become the victim of a crime then this can have a devastating effect on you and your family. In some cases these effects can be permanent.

This category of personal injury claims includes:

• Child abuse claims
• Criminal injuries claims
• Elderly abuse claims
• Reports against the police claims
• Terrorism claims

All of these claims refer to injuries sustained as a result of a physical or psychological abuse, violent assault, wrongful arrest or an act of terrorism.

Child abuse is still a relatively new field of compensation claims. This is a subject which arouses a great deal of emotion and requires a high level of sensitivity and experience on the part of the personal injury lawyer or claims firm.

Criminal injuries refer to injuries sustained as a result of a violent crime, for example, mugging or a sexual assault. A physical assault can have long lasting physical and mental effects which persist for many years. In some cases a violent attack can result in post traumatic stress disorder.

Elderly abuse can occur in a variety of situations where the person concerned is in a vulnerable position, for example a resident in a nursing home. It not only includes physical abuse but psychological abuse such as bullying, personal neglect and coercion.

Coercion can take the form of pressuring an elderly person into signing over the contents of their will or their assets, e.g. their home.

Reports against the police include wrongful arrest and becoming injured due to excessive force by a police officer. Another issue is possible misuse of their ‘stop and search’ powers or harassment.

Terrorism is a situation which can affect anyone. Any one of us can unwittingly, become part of a large scale terrorist act which is a physically and psychologically traumatic experience. The effects of this can be long lasting even permanent.

The terrorism subsection refers to claims made as a result of UK acts of terrorism for example the 7/7 London bombings. International acts of terrorism are discussed in our accidents and illness abroad section.

Find out more about crime and abuse claims within this section.