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Union Calendar No. 6

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 665

[Report No. 104–16]

To control crime by mandatory victim restitution.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 25, 1995

Mr. MCCOLLUM introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on the Judiciary

FEBRUARY 2, 1995

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on January 25, 1995]

A BILL

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’’.
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1 SEC. 2. MANDATORY RESTITUTION AND OTHER PROVI2 SIONS.

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

4 18, United States Code, is amended—

5 (1) in subsection (a)—

6 (A) in paragraph (1)—

7 (i) by striking ‘‘may order, in addition

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

9 of any other penalty authorized by law’’

10 and inserting ‘‘shall order’’; and

11 (ii) by adding at the end the following:

12 ‘‘The requirement of this paragraph does

13 not affect the power of the court to impose

14 any other penalty authorized by law. In the

15 case of a misdemeanor, the court may im16 pose restitution in lieu of any other penalty

17 authorized by law.’’;

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

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

20 of the offense of which a defendant is convicted, a court may

21 order restitution to any person who, as shown by a prepon22 derance of evidence, was harmed physically, emotionally,

23 or pecuniarily, by unlawful conduct of the defendant dur24 ing—

25 ‘‘(A) the criminal episode during which the of26 fense occurred; or
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1 ‘‘(B) the course of a scheme, conspiracy, or pat2 tern of unlawful activity related to the offense.’’;

3 (2) in subsection (b)(1)(B) by striking ‘‘imprac4 tical’’ and inserting ‘‘impracticable’’;

5 (3) in subsection (b)(2) by inserting ‘‘emotional

6 or’’ after ‘‘resulting in’’;

7 (4) in subsection (b)—

8 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para9 graph (4);

10 (B) by redesignating paragraph (5) as

11 paragraph (6); and

12 (C) by inserting after paragraph (4) the fol13 lowing new paragraph:

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

15 income and necessary child care, transportation, and

16 other expenses related to participation in the inves17 tigation or prosecution of the offense or attendance at

18 proceedings related to the offense; and’’;

19 (5) in subsection (c) by striking ‘‘If the court de20 cides to order restitution under this section, the’’ and

21 inserting ‘‘The’’;

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

23 (h);

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

25 (m); and
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1 (8) by inserting after subsection (c) the follow2 ing:

3 ‘‘(d)(1) The court shall order restitution to a victim

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

5 the court and without consideration of—

6 ‘‘(A) the economic circumstances of the offender;

7 or

8 ‘‘(B) the fact that a victim has received or is en9 titled to receive compensation with respect to a loss

10 from insurance or any other source.

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

12 owed to each victim, the court shall specify in the restitu13 tion order the manner in which and the schedule according

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

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

16 the offender;

17 ‘‘(B) projected earnings and other income of the

18 offender; and

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

20 including obligations to dependents.

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

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

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

24 agreeable to the victim and the offender.
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1 ‘‘(4) An in-kind payment described in paragraph (3)

2 may be in the form of—

3 ‘‘(A) return of property;

4 ‘‘(B) replacement of property; or

5 ‘‘(C) services rendered to the victim or to a per6 son or organization other than the victim.

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

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

9 each offender liable for payment of the full amount of res10 titution or may apportion liability among the offenders to

11 reflect the level of contribution and economic circumstances

12 of each offender.

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

14 sustained a loss requiring restitution by an offender, the

15 court shall order full restitution to each victim but may

16 provide for different payment schedules to reflect the eco17 nomic circumstances of each victim.

18 ‘‘(g)(1) If the victim has received or is entitled to re19 ceive compensation with respect to a loss from insurance

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

21 be paid to the person who provided or is obligated to provide

22 the compensation, but the restitution order shall provide

23 that all restitution to victims required by the order be paid

24 to the victims before any restitution is paid to such a pro25 vider of compensation.
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1 ‘‘(2) The issuance of a restitution order shall not affect

2 the entitlement of a victim to receive compensation with

3 respect to a loss from insurance or any other source until

4 the payments actually received by the victim under the res5 titution order fully compensate the victim for the loss, at

6 which time a person that has provided compensation to the

7 victim shall be entitled to receive any payments remaining

8 to be paid under the restitution order.

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

10 restitution shall be set off against any amount later recov11 ered as compensatory damages by the victim in—

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

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

14 provided by the law of the State.

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

16 ‘‘(1) all fines, penalties, costs, restitution pay17 ments and other forms of transfers of money or prop18 erty made pursuant to the sentence of the court shall

19 be made by the offender to an entity designated by the

20 Director of the Administrative Office of the United

21 States Courts for accounting and payment by the en22 tity in accordance with this subsection;

23 ‘‘(2) the entity designated by the Director of the

24 Administrative Office of the United States Courts

25 shall—
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1 ‘‘(A) log all transfers in a manner that

2 tracks the offender’s obligations and the current

3 status in meeting those obligations, unless, after

4 efforts have been made to enforce the restitution

5 order and it appears that compliance cannot be

6 obtained, the court determines that continued

7 recordkeeping under this subparagraph would

8 not be useful; and

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

10 parties when an offender is 30 days in arrears

11 in meeting those obligations; and

12 ‘‘(3) the offender shall advise the entity des13 ignated by the Director of the Administrative Office

14 of the United States Courts of any change in the of15 fender’s address during the term of the restitution

16 order.

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

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

19 Federal or State office for the recording of liens against real

20 or personal property.

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

22 other terms of a restitution order shall be a condition of

23 any probation, parole, or other form of release of an of24 fender. If a defendant fails to comply with a restitution

25 order, the court may revoke probation or a term of super-
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1 vised release, modify the term or conditions of probation

2 or a term of supervised release, hold the defendant in con3 tempt of court, enter a restraining order or injunction,

4 order the sale of property of the defendant, accept a per5 formance bond, or take any other action necessary to obtain

6 compliance with the restitution order. In determining what

7 action to take, the court shall consider the defendant’s em8 ployment status, earning ability, financial resources, the

9 willfulness in failing to comply with the restitution order,

10 and any other circumstances that may have a bearing on

11 the defendant’s ability to comply with the restitution order.

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

13 ‘‘(1) by the United States—

14 ‘‘(A) in the manner provided for the collec15 tion and payment of fines in subchapter B of

16 chapter 229 of this title; or

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

18 a civil action; and

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

20 the restitution, in the same manner as a judgment in

21 a civil action.

22 ‘‘(l) A victim or the offender may petition the court

23 at any time to modify a restitution order as appropriate

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

25 offender.’’.
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1 (b) PROCEDURE FOR ISSUING ORDER OF RESTITU2 TION.—Section 3664 of title 18, United States Code, is

3 amended—

4 (1) by striking subsection (a);

5 (2) by redesignating subsections (b), (c), (d), and

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

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

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

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

10 court to obtain information pertaining to the amount of

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

12 financial resources of the defendant, the financial needs and

13 earning ability of the defendant and the defendant’s depend14 ents, and such other factors as the court deems appropriate.

15 The probation service of the court shall include the informa16 tion collected in the report of presentence investigation or

17 in a separate report, as the court directs.’’; and

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

19 new subsection:

20 ‘‘(e) The court may refer any issue arising in connec21 tion with a proposed order of restitution to a magistrate

22 or special master for proposed findings of fact and rec23 ommendations as to disposition, subject to a de novo deter24 mination of the issue by the court.’’.
Union Calendar No. 6

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 665

[Report No. 104–16]

A BILL

To control crime by mandatory victim restitution.

FEBRUARY 2, 1995

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Commitordered to be printed tee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and