§ 5351. Definitions
As used in this chapter:
(1) “Board” means the Victims Compensation Board established under this chapter.
(2) “Dependent” means the victim’s spouse, domestic partner, or a person who is legally
dependent for support upon a victim. To qualify as a domestic partner, a couple shall
share a residence for at least six months prior to applying, be 18 years of age or
older, not be married to anyone, and not be related by blood closer than would bar
marriage under State law.
(3) “Crime” includes delinquent acts and an act of terrorism, as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 2331, committed outside the United States against a resident of this State.
(4) “Injury” means actual bodily harm or pregnancy, or emotional harm resulting from the
crime.
(5) “Pecuniary loss” means, in the case of a victim, the amount of medical or medically
related expenses, loss of wages, and any other expenses that the Board feels became
necessary as a direct result of the crime. Medical or medically related expenses
may include, but are not limited to, the costs of individual or family psychological,
psychiatric, or mental health counseling and the costs of replacing or repairing eyeglasses,
hearing aids, dentures, or any prosthetic devices that were taken, lost, or destroyed
during the commission of the crime. In the case of a dependent, “pecuniary loss”
means the cost of psychological, psychiatric, or mental health counseling, funeral
expenses for the victim, and, upon demonstration of financial hardship, temporary
living expenses.
(6) “Unreimbursed pecuniary loss” means a pecuniary loss:
(A) that is not covered by medical, hospitalization, or disability insurance or workers’
compensation; and
(B) that has not been ordered by the court to be restored to the victim or dependent by
the person who caused the loss; or
(C) that has been ordered by the court to be restored to the victim or dependent but has
not been paid by the person who caused the loss.
(7) “Victim” means:
(A) a person who sustains injury or death as a direct result of the commission or attempted
commission of a crime;
(B) an intervenor who is physically injured or killed in an attempt to assist the person
described in subdivision (A) of this subdivision (7) or a protected professional as
defined in subdivision 1028(d)(1) of this title;
(C) a surviving immediate family member of a homicide victim, including a spouse, domestic
partner, parent, sibling, child, grandparent, or other survivor who may suffer severe
emotional harm as a result of the victim’s death as determined on a case-by-case basis
in the discretion of the Board; or
(D) a resident of this State who is injured or killed as the result of a crime committed
outside the United States.
(8) “Profits from crimes” means:
(A) any property obtained through or income generated from the commission of a crime in
which the defendant was convicted;
(B) any property obtained by or income generated from the sale, conversion, or exchange
of proceeds of a crime, including any gain realized by such sale, conversion, or exchange;
(C) any property that the defendant obtained or any income generated as a result of having
committed the crime, including any assets obtained through the use of unique knowledge
acquired during the commission of or in preparation for the commission of the crime,
as well as any property obtained or income generated from the sale, conversion, or
exchange of such property and any gain realized by such sale, conversion, or exchange;
and
(D) any property defendant obtained or any income generated from the sale of tangible
property the value of which is increased by the notoriety gained from the conviction
of an offense by the person accused or convicted of the crime. (Added 1989, No. 214 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; amended 1991, No. 107, § 2; 1995, No. 22, § 1; 1997, No. 61, §§ 56a, 56b; 2003, No. 92 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, eff. April 13, 2004; 2007, No. 173 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 2009, No. 55, § 1, eff. June 1, 2009; 2021, No. 122 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. May 19, 2022; 2025, No. 64, § 10, eff. June 12, 2025.)