Another national notice for Arkansas: It is one of only seven states that deny aid to crime victims if they’ve had a criminal past.
Florida is one of seven states that bar people with a criminal record from receiving victim compensation. The laws are meant to keep limited funds from going to people who are deemed undeserving. But the rules have had a broader effect: an analysis of records in two of those states—Florida and Ohio—shows that the bans fall hardest on black victims and their families, like the Campbells.
Discrimination may not be intentional, but a product of the justice system. Blacks get harsher sentences and are charged more often with drug offenses though they use and
In Arkansas, a crime victim is barred for life from compensation if convicted in the past of a felony involving injury or death to another person. Last year, the Crime Victims Reparations Board voted against asking legislators to lift the state’s lifetime ban.