Second, some citizens have suffered rights
deprivations in the past, and as a result, they
are entitled to some form of special treatment.
Affirmative action programs in the
USA have provided special rights for veterans,
women, African-Americans, Hispanics and
others (Burstein, 1998; Pencak, 1984;
Skocpol, 1992; Ross, 1969). Considering
Hohfeld’s theory, these compensatory rights
are temporary ‘immunities’ to equal treatment
requirements of law because equal treatment
for these groups has been violated in the past.
If affirmative action programs and procedures
become permanent rather than temporary,
they are no longer compensatory rights but
categorical rights, which are discussed below.
Compensatory rights may also involve cash
payments (e.g. the federal government in the
USA paid Japanese Americans interned
during World War II, and there were German
payments to Jewish emigrants and victims
whose property was stolen).