Vic crimes compo down on previous year

Victorian victims of crime were awarded nearly $48 million in compensation and legal costs in the last financial year.

The Victims of Crime Assistance Tribunal (VOCAT) said $47.9 million was awarded in financial assistance and legal costs in 2013/14, down from $49.1 million the previous year.

In its annual report tabled in parliament, Chief Magistrate Peter Lauritsen said 6611 applications were finalised and another 5722 were lodged, down by 141 on the previous year and the lowest number lodged since 2008.

But Mr Lauritsen said he did not expect that trend to continue.

"As a community, we continue to experience increasing rates of reporting and policing family violence offending, as well as sexual offending," he said.

"The magistrates' court has experienced significant increased workloads in these areas, and this may in turn result in increased VOCAT applications."

Mr Lauritsen said the time taken to process claims had also improved, with 50 per cent of applications finalised within nine months, and 65.2 per cent within a year.

The report found female applicants were in the majority (52.7 per cent).

The majority of applications stemmed from assaults (55.4 per cent), with men (56.2 per cent) making up most of those who applied in that category.

There were 568 applications where the alleged crime was a homicide, up from 407 the previous year.

There were 213 applications where the alleged offence was rape, compared to 262 the year before. Of the 213, 192 were female applicants.