dojN002584.xml

dojN002584.xml

born-digital

email

yes

no

2002-01-17

Thursday, January 17, 2002 4:13 PM
Publication of Names of Claimants - what do you think?

Dear Mr. Zwick:

I am concerned about the publication of the names of claimants to the Fund on the Department of Justice Website and in other sources. Although I understand that the purpose of publication is to give notice that someone is making a claim on behalf of a particular victim, such publication also makes it easy to identify the victim's family members for anyone who wants to prey on them. These people deserve to have their privacy protected as much as possible. At the very least, the names of the claimants should be shielded and only the name of the victim about whom a claim is being made should be published.

However, it seems possible to allow a procedure whereby the personal representative of a victim can contact the Department of Justice or the Special Master's Office, present proof of his or her capacity as personal representative as defined under the Regulations, and request that notice be sent to him or her in the event that any other individual makes a claim on behalf of such victim. In that way, the proper parties have notice of any other claim being made and there would be no need to publish either the name of the victim or the claimant.

If there is concern that some members of victims' families who are not personal representatives under the statute are not getting notice of the actions taken by the personal representative, perhaps regulations could be drafted which would allow notice of claims made by the personal representative to be sent, on request, to certain categories of persons who can document special ties to the victim (such as life partner, parent or guardian of children of prior marriage etc.). I recognize that these procedures would take some extra time and would entail some extra cost; however, it does not seem to me that they would be overly utilized. In the vast majority of cases, there will be no conflict between the personal representative and other members of the victim's immediate circle.

At any rate, steps to protect the privacy of the victims' families should be taken. They have suffered enough and do not need to have the public at large know that a claim for compensation has been made and that they are expecting a payment in the near future.

Thank you for your consideration.

Individual Comment
New York, NY

2002-01-17