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Who is a Victim under to the LAVI (Law on Assistance to Victims of Crime)?
The LAVI (Loi fédérale sur l’aide aux victimes d’infractions) is the federal Law on Assistance to Victims of Crime. In order to be considered a victim under the LAVI, three conditions must be met:
- The person must have suffered a violation of his or her physical, psychological or sexual integrity.
- The harm must have been caused by a criminal offence.
- The harm must be the direct consequence of the offence.
This “victim status” exists whether or not the perpetrator was discovered and whether he or she acted intentionally or through negligence.
In addition, the offence must have been committed in Switzerland. If committed abroad, the victim must be domiciled in Switzerland at the time of the offence and at the time of the application for support.
The following non-exhaustive list of offences will provide you with an initial assessment:
- Simple or serious bodily injury, whether intentional or through negligence (including in case of a traffic accident or medical error)
- Banditry
- Death threats
- Constraint
- Sequestration
- Kidnapping
- Hostage taking
- Homicide
- Traffic accidents caused by a responsible third party
- Rape, sexual coercion
- Sexual acts on children or dependent persons
- Exhibitionism
- Incitement to prostitution
- Human trafficking
- Forced marriage
- Repeated assaults in a context of domestic violence
- Coercive measures applied by assistance services
Consult our information leaflets.
All our detailed information leaflets are available here.