NEWARK – Senator Loretta Weinberg and Assemblymen Peter J. Barnes and Gordon M. Johnson today held a news conference at the Robert Treat Center to discuss identical bills they are sponsoring to help provide better service for victims of crime here in New Jersey, while saving nearly one million dollars per year in taxpayer dollars by fully revamping the State’s Victims of Crime Compensation Board (VCCB).
“When the board was founded it was designed to use monetary penalties that were imposed on criminals to help compensate their victims for their pain and suffering,” said Senator Weinberg, D-Bergen. ” Since then, its original mission has been clouded by a wave of patronage appointees who do not take their positions seriously. With this legislation, our goal is to tighten up the agency and make sure that the people in leadership roles are actually on the job, doing what they are paid to do, and not taking off weeks at a time, leaving victims to suffer without compensation for even longer periods of time.”