Compensation Program Updates For Victims and Survivors

ovs compass for victims and survivors

Reporting a Crime

Starting December 31, 2025, instead of filing a report with law enforcement, you can go to a local victim service provider, or a medical or mental health professional, and tell them that you or a loved one experienced a crime. The provider can fill out a short form to tell OVS about the crime. OVS can accept the form from your provider as confirmation that you or a loved one experienced a crime.

If a victim service provider completes a claim for you online, they will be able to confirm that you experienced a crime as part of the online application, and they will not need to submit an additional form. For now, you can download a sample paper copy of the OVS Crime Verification Form from the OVS website at this address: https://ovs.ny.gov/crime-verification-form. 

Please note that OVS will not accept crime verification forms until December 31, 2025, and OVS cannot accept crime verification forms for claims filed before December 31, 2025. 

Timely Filing

Starting December 31, 2025, victims and survivors will have three years to file a claim with OVS following the crime, discovery of the crime, after a court finds a lawsuit frivolous, or the victim died because of the crime.

Please keep in mind that even if it has been more than three years, OVS has the ability to waive this requirement if the claimant or victim/survivor can show they had good reasons for not filing a claim within that timeframe. Good reasons can include, but are not limited to not knowing that victim compensation existed, or not knowing that they may be eligible for compensation.

Eligibility 

Starting December 31, 2025, OVS will be able to determine eligibility for claims whether or not the alleged criminal has been arrested, charged, apprehended, or prosecuted for or convicted of any crime based on the same incident. This is a change from current law where "arrested" and "charged" were not previously included.

Also starting December 31, 2025, OVS will have the ability to evaluate a claim for compensation in the light most favorable to a victim when two or more conflicting reports from a support agency for survivors of crime are submitted as part of the same claim. This means that OVS will have more discretion to determine eligibility for compensation when written narratives about the same crime do not describe the facts of the case in the same way. 

• The cap on funeral and burial expenses has increased to $12,000. OVS can also now pay up to $6,000 for emergency awards for funeral and burial expenses.
• OVS will no longer consider conduct contributing for claims where the victim died because of a crime.
• Any who has to pay for crime-scene clean-up after a crime can now file a claim for these expenses.
• Victims of larceny who have cash losses and meet other eligibility criteria are now eligible for up to $2,500 reimbursement for those cash losses under one victim compensation claim. 

As of December 31, 2025, all NYS OVS compensation online claims will be submitted using OVS Compass. You can follow these links to get started:

• OVS Compass for Victims and Survivors
• OVS Compass for Victim Advocates

For more information on how to submit claims, please visit https://ovs.ny.gov/victim-compensation. 

The Victim Service Portal (VSP) for submitting claims was shut off for new claims submission on December 30, 2025 at close of business.

• Any in-progress, unsubmitted claims in the VSP were purged from the system. Please re-enter claim information into OVS Compass.
• Users will not be able to add documents to claims submitted via the VSP. Please send documents for claims submitted via the VSP to [email protected].