A victim of crime as defined in Section 2.3 of the Criminal Victims' Asset Discovery Act shall have a cause of action against a defendant who has been convicted of a crime, or found not guilty by reason of insanity or guilty but mentally ill of a crime, to recover damages suffered by the victim of the crime.
The Civil Practice Law shall apply in the proceedings, and the case shall be tried as in other civil cases. If the victim is deceased, the next of kin may maintain the action.
735 ILCS 5/2-2001