104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 665

AN ACT

To control crime by mandatory victim restitution.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Victim Restitution Act

5 of 1995’’.

6 SEC. 2. MANDATORY RESTITUTION AND OTHER PROVI7 SIONS.

8 (a) ORDER OF RESTITUTION.—Section 3663 of title

9 18, United States Code, is amended—

10 (1) in subsection (a)—

11 (A) in paragraph (1)—
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1 (i) by striking ‘‘may order, in addition

2 to or, in the case of a misdemeanor, in lieu

3 of any other penalty authorized by law’’

4 and inserting ‘‘shall order’’; and

5 (ii) by adding at the end the follow6 ing: ‘‘The requirement of this paragraph

7 does not affect the power of the court to

8 impose any other penalty authorized by

9 law. In the case of a misdemeanor, the

10 court may impose restitution in lieu of any

11 other penalty authorized by law.’’;

12 (B) by adding at the end the following:

13 ‘‘(4) In addition to ordering restitution to the victim

14 of the offense of which a defendant is convicted, a court

15 may order restitution to any person who, as shown by a

16 preponderance of evidence, was harmed physically, emo17 tionally, or pecuniarily, by unlawful conduct of the defend18 ant during—

19 ‘‘(A) the criminal episode during which the of20 fense occurred; or

21 ‘‘(B) the course of a scheme, conspiracy, or pat22 tern of unlawful activity related to the offense.’’;

23 (2) in subsection (b)(1)(B) by striking ‘‘imprac24 tical’’ and inserting ‘‘impracticable’’;
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1 (3) in subsection (b)(2) by inserting ‘‘emotional

2 or’’ after ‘‘resulting in’’;

3 (4) in subsection (b)—

4 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para5 graph (4);

6 (B) by redesignating paragraph (5) as

7 paragraph (6); and

8 (C) by inserting after paragraph (4) the

9 following new paragraph:

10 ‘‘(5) in any case, reimburse the victim for lost

11 income and necessary child care, transportation, and

12 other expenses related to participation in the inves13 tigation or prosecution of the offense or attendance

14 at proceedings related to the offense; and’’;

15 (5) in subsection (c) by striking ‘‘If the court

16 decides to order restitution under this section, the’’

17 and inserting ‘‘The’’;

18 (6) by striking subsections (d), (e), (f), (g), and

19 (h);

20 (7) by redesignating subsection (i) as subsection

21 (m); and

22 (8) by inserting after subsection (c) the follow23 ing:
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1 ‘‘(d)(1) The court shall order restitution to a victim

2 in the full amount of the victim’s losses as determined by

3 the court and without consideration of—

4 ‘‘(A) the economic circumstances of the of5 fender; or

6 ‘‘(B) the fact that a victim has received or is

7 entitled to receive compensation with respect to a

8 loss from insurance or any other source.

9 ‘‘(2) Upon determination of the amount of restitution

10 owed to each victim, the court shall specify in the restitu11 tion order the manner in which and the schedule according

12 to which the restitution is to be paid, in consideration of—

13 ‘‘(A) the financial resources and other assets of

14 the offender;

15 ‘‘(B) projected earnings and other income of

16 the offender; and

17 ‘‘(C) any financial obligations of the offender,

18 including obligations to dependents.

19 ‘‘(3) A restitution order may direct the offender to

20 make a single, lump-sum payment, partial payment at

21 specified intervals, or such in-kind payments as may be

22 agreeable to the victim and the offender. A restitution

23 order shall direct the offender to give appropriate notice

24 to victims and other persons in cases where there are mul25 tiple victims or other persons who may receive restitution,
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1 and where the identity of such victims and other persons

2 can be reasonably determined.

3 ‘‘(4) An in-kind payment described in paragraph (3)

4 may be in the form of—

5 ‘‘(A) return of property;

6 ‘‘(B) replacement of property; or

7 ‘‘(C) services rendered to the victim or to a per8 son or organization other than the victim.

9 ‘‘(e) When the court finds that more than 1 offender

10 has contributed to the loss of a victim, the court may make

11 each offender liable for payment of the full amount of res12 titution or may apportion liability among the offenders to

13 reflect the level of contribution and economic cir14 cumstances of each offender.

15 ‘‘(f) When the court finds that more than 1 victim

16 has sustained a loss requiring restitution by an offender,

17 the court shall order full restitution to each victim but

18 may provide for different payment schedules to reflect the

19 economic circumstances of each victim.

20 ‘‘(g)(1) If the victim has received or is entitled to re21 ceive compensation with respect to a loss from insurance

22 or any other source, the court shall order that restitution

23 be paid to the person who provided or is obligated to pro24 vide the compensation, but the restitution order shall pro25 vide that all restitution to victims required by the order
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1 be paid to the victims before any restitution is paid to

2 such a provider of compensation.

3 ‘‘(2) The issuance of a restitution order shall not af4 fect the entitlement of a victim to receive compensation

5 with respect to a loss from insurance or any other source

6 until the payments actually received by the victim under

7 the restitution order fully compensate the victim for the

8 loss, at which time a person that has provided compensa9 tion to the victim shall be entitled to receive any payments

10 remaining to be paid under the restitution order.

11 ‘‘(3) Any amount paid to a victim under an order of

12 restitution shall be set off against any amount later recov13 ered as compensatory damages by the victim in—

14 ‘‘(A) any Federal civil proceeding; and

15 ‘‘(B) any State civil proceeding, to the extent

16 provided by the law of the State.

17 ‘‘(h) A restitution order shall provide that—

18 ‘‘(1) all fines, penalties, costs, restitution pay19 ments and other forms of transfers of money or

20 property made pursuant to the sentence of the court

21 shall be made by the offender to an entity des22 ignated by the Director of the Administrative Office

23 of the United States Courts for accounting and pay24 ment by the entity in accordance with this sub25 section;
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1 ‘‘(2) the entity designated by the Director of

2 the Administrative Office of the United States

3 Courts shall—

4 ‘‘(A) log all transfers in a manner that

5 tracks the offender’s obligations and the cur6 rent status in meeting those obligations, unless,

7 after efforts have been made to enforce the res8 titution order and it appears that compliance

9 cannot be obtained, the court determines that

10 continued recordkeeping under this subpara11 graph would not be useful; and

12 ‘‘(B) notify the court and the interested

13 parties when an offender is 30 days in arrears

14 in meeting those obligations; and

15 ‘‘(3) the offender shall advise the entity des16 ignated by the Director of the Administrative Office

17 of the United States Courts of any change in the of18 fender’s address during the term of the restitution

19 order.

20 ‘‘(i) A restitution order shall constitute a lien against

21 all property of the offender and may be recorded in any

22 Federal or State office for the recording of liens against

23 real or personal property.

24 ‘‘(j) Compliance with the schedule of payment and

25 other terms of a restitution order shall be a condition of
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1 any probation, parole, or other form of release of an of2 fender. If a defendant fails to comply with a restitution

3 order, the court may revoke probation or a term of super4 vised release, modify the term or conditions of probation

5 or a term of supervised release, hold the defendant in con6 tempt of court, enter a restraining order or injunction,

7 order the sale of property of the defendant, accept a per8 formance bond, or take any other action necessary to ob9 tain compliance with the restitution order. In determining

10 what action to take, the court shall consider the defend11 ant’s employment status, earning ability, financial re12 sources, the willfulness in failing to comply with the res13 titution order, and any other circumstances that may have

14 a bearing on the defendant’s ability to comply with the

15 restitution order.

16 ‘‘(k) An order of restitution may be enforced—

17 ‘‘(1) by the United States—

18 ‘‘(A) in the manner provided for the collec19 tion and payment of fines in subchapter B of

20 chapter 229 of this title; or

21 ‘‘(B) in the same manner as a judgment in

22 a civil action; and

23 ‘‘(2) by a victim named in the order to receive

24 the restitution, in the same manner as a judgment

25 in a civil action.
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1 ‘‘(l) A victim or the offender may petition the court

2 at any time to modify a restitution order as appropriate

3 in view of a change in the economic circumstances of the

4 offender.’’.

5 (b) PROCEDURE FOR ISSUING ORDER OF RESTITU6 TION.—Section 3664 of title 18, United States Code, is

7 amended—

8 (1) by striking subsection (a);

9 (2) by redesignating subsections (b), (c), (d),

10 and (e) as subsections (a), (b), (c), and (d);

11 (3) by amending subsection (a), as redesignated

12 by paragraph (2), to read as follows:

13 ‘‘(a) The court may order the probation service of the

14 court to obtain information pertaining to the amount of

15 loss sustained by any victim as a result of the offense,

16 the financial resources of the defendant, the financial

17 needs and earning ability of the defendant and the defend18 ant’s dependents, and such other factors as the court

19 deems appropriate. The probation service of the court

20 shall include the information collected in the report of

21 presentence investigation or in a separate report, as the

22 court directs.’’; and

23 (4) by adding at the end thereof the following

24 new subsection:
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1 ‘‘(e) The court may refer any issue arising in connec2 tion with a proposed order of restitution to a magistrate

3 or special master for proposed findings of fact and rec4 ommendations as to disposition, subject to a de novo de5 termination of the issue by the court.’’.

Passed the House of Representatives February 7,

1995.

Attest:

Clerk.

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 665

AN ACT

To control crime by mandatory victim restitution.