White paper on crime 2011 Part5/Chapter2/Section2/1
In accordance with the Act on Support for Crime Victims, etc. Such as Payment of Crime Victims Benefit (Act No. 36 of 1980; the title of the Act before July 1, 2008 was the “Act on Payment of Crime Victims Benefit”), the government pays crime victim benefits to the bereaved families of persons killed in criminal acts and also to victims seriously injured or disabled. In consideration of the Basic Act on Crime Victims and the Basic Plan for Crime Victims, the requirements for providing benefits to seriously injured crime victims were then relaxed, the period for the benefit provision extended, and restrictions to provide the benefits when the perpetrator was of victim’s relatives were relaxed in April 2006. In addition, the system was further enhanced by providing additional amounts of benefits to seriously injured crime victims after taking into consideration any damage due to suspension of their businesses, and the amount of benefits raised for anyone with a severe disability (grade 1 to 3) and the bereaved families of the main householder from July 2008, and restrictions to provide the benefit to victims of spousal violence was reviewed in October 2009 (See Appendix 5-1 for the status of the application/payment of crime victim benefits).