GETTING THE WORD OUT TO VICTIMS

Missouri's Crime Victims Compensation program dates back more than a decade, but many crime victims have never heard of it, a victims' advocate says.

The victims' advocate, Bettie Knoll, said prosecutors and police officers need to do a better job of informing victims of their rights, including that they could be eligible for state compensation.

She believes many prosecutors and police officers in Southeast Missouri aren't aware of the program.

Knoll, a victims' advocate with the Cape Girardeau Police Department, makes sure that victims of crimes in Cape Girardeau County are aware of the program.

She helps them fill out the paperwork to apply for funding to cover everything from medical bills to funeral expenses.

The city of Cape Girardeau has funded Knoll's position for years. This year, the city and county of Cape Girardeau are sharing the cost.

But Knoll is the only victims' advocate in Southeast Missouri. In the rural counties of the Missouri Bootheel, victims often aren't aware of the state program, she said.

Barbara Ivie of East Prairie said a prosecutor told her about the program in June 1997, more than two years after her son was shot and killed in Mississippi County.

By then, it was too late to apply for state compensation. The victim has to apply for compensation within two years after the crime.

Ivie's 22-year-old son was killed on Jan. 4, 1995.

Barbara Ivie said she and other crime victims are in the dark about the compensation program. "People don't know about it," she said.

Ivie said prosecutors and police are too busy to look after the victims of crimes. "I can't really say it is their fault," she said. "They are just so overloaded with everything they do."

Ivie said the money would help low-income crime victims.

Ivie spent more than $14,000 on her son's funeral. It isn't easy coming up with the money to pay such expenses, she said.

Knoll said the state needs to do a better job of publicizing the program.

Sandy Wright, who runs the compensation program for the state, said her office is working to get the word out.

"I have an employee who is out on the road now visiting each and every county in the state of Missouri," Wright said.

The staff member has been visiting law enforcement agencies, hospitals, prosecutors' offices and funeral homes to publicize the program.

Wright said her office provides Miranda warning cards to police officers. The cards also carry the compensation program's toll-free telephone number: 1-800-347-6881.

Wright said urban hospital personnel generally are aware of the compensation program and do a good job of notifying victims they treat.

She said her office is looking to do a better job of informing personnel at rural hospitals about the program.

Wright said the program is well known to victims' advocates. But there are only 20 some advocates in the entire state.

Both Wright and Knoll said more victims' advocates would help.

Knoll said the state just received a grant to hire five advocates to assist victims in third and fourth class counties, largely rural areas where such assistance currently isn't available.

In fiscal 1997, no compensation claims were filed by victims from Bollinger County.

But the county's prosecuting attorney, Bill Hopkins, said he informs victims about the compensation program.

"Anybody that is eligible for it, we tell them," he said.

Hopkins said he vigorously seeks restitution in criminal cases. That may be one reason why no victims' claims were filed with the compensation program last fiscal year, the prosecutor said.

Hopkins typically makes restitution as part of any plea agreement. "I want the restitution up front," he said.

Many prosecutors don't follow that practice, he said.

Hopkins said that he pursues restitution in part because his county isn't served by a victims' advocate.

He said restitution is a more direct and often quicker way to help victims.

"The compensation fund is a big hassle, a big bureaucratic mess," he said. "We try to go directly from the defendant to the victim."