The predictability of court-adjudicated compensation for pain and suffering damages within the criminal proceedings and the role of victim labels: A case study on victims of sexual crime in the Netherlands

Compensation for pain and suffering damages has been a focal point within legal academic debate. The difficulty of placing a monetary value on such damages and the lack of well-defined guidelines have been claimed to result in widely varying compensatory awards, making them random and unpredictable. Variability may arise from victim labels depicting who is deserving, and who is not. In this study, regression analysis is employed to assess whether compensation can be predicted, and what role victim labels play in the judicial decision-making. The empirical strategy is informed by notion of the ideal victim. Results show that compensation for pain and suffering damages can be predicted, and that by including victim labels the prediction significantly improves. Although they are not the predominant predictors, victim labels of blamelessness play a role in awarded compensation. The main driver in judges’ decision is the claim put forward by the victim.