I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 711

To provide for restitution of victims of crimes, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 26, 1995

Mr. OXLEY (for himself, Ms. PRYCE, Mr. KING, Mr. HANCOCK, Mr. WALSH,

Mr. CANADY of Florida, Mr. SMITH of Texas, Mr. FORBES, Mr. ZIMMER,

Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. MOORHEAD,

Mrs. MEYERS of Kansas, Mr. STUMP, Mr. GEKAS, Mr. DORNAN, Mr.

LATHAM, Mr. MCDADE, Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota, Mr. SHAW, Mr.

SHAYS, Mr. FIELDS of Texas, Mr. BARTON of Texas, Mr. BREWSTER,

Mr. ISTOOK, Mr. BLUTE, Mr. SHUSTER, Mr. LIGHTFOOT, Mr.

KNOLLENBERG, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr. CHRISTENSEN,

Mr. GORDON, Mr. LIVINGSTON, and Mr. BACHUS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To provide for restitution of victims of crimes, and for other

purposes.

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 ‘‘Crime Victims Restitu5 tion Act of 1995’’.
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1 SEC. 2. ORDER OF RESTITUTION.

2 Section 3663 of title 18, United States Code, is

3 amended—

4 (1) in subsection (a)—

5 (A) by striking ‘‘may order’’ and inserting

6 ‘‘shall order’’; and

7 (B) by adding at the end the following new

8 paragraph:

9 ‘‘(4) In addition to ordering restitution of the victim

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

11 may order restitution of any person who, as shown by a

12 preponderance of evidence, was harmed physically, emo13 tionally, or pecuniarily, by unlawful conduct of the defend14 ant during—

15 ‘‘(A) the criminal episode during which the of16 fense occurred; or

17 ‘‘(B) the course of a scheme, conspiracy, or pat18 tern of unlawful activity related to the offense.’’;

19 (2) in subsection (b)(1)(B), by striking ‘‘im20 practical’’ and inserting ‘‘impracticable’’;

21 (3) in subsection (b)(2), by inserting ‘‘emotional

22 or’’ after ‘‘resulting in’’;

23 (4) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘If the Court

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

25 and inserting ‘‘The’’;
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1 (5) by striking subsections (d), (e), (f), (g), and

2 (h);

3 (6) by redesignating subsection (i) as subsection

4 (m); and

5 (7) by inserting after subsection (c) the follow6 ing new subsections:

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

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

9 the court and without consideration of—

10 ‘‘(A) the economic circumstances of the of11 fender; or

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

13 entitled to receive compensation with respect to a

14 loss from insurance or any other source.

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

16 owed to each victim, the court shall specify in the restitu17 tion order the manner in which and the schedule according

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

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

20 the offender;

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

22 the offender; and

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

24 including obligations to dependents.
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1 ‘‘(3) A restoration order may direct the offender to

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

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

4 agreeable to the victim and the offender.

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

6 may be in the form of—

7 ‘‘(A) return of property;

8 ‘‘(B) replacement of property; or

9 ‘‘(C) services rendered to the victim or to a per10 son or organization other than the victim.

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

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

13 each offender liable for payment of the full amount of res14 titution or may apportion liability among the offenders to

15 reflect the level of contribution and economic cir16 cumstances of each offender.

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

18 has sustained a loss requiring restitution by an offender,

19 the court shall order full restitution of each victim but may

20 provide for different payment schedules to reflect the eco21 nomic circumstances of each victim.

22 ‘‘(g)(1) If the victim has received or is entitled to re23 ceive compensation with respect to a loss from insurance

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

25 be paid to the person who provided or is obligated to pro-
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1 vide the compensation, but the restitution order shall pro2 vide that all restitution of victims required by the order

3 be paid to the victims before any restitution is paid to

4 such a provider of compensation.

5 ‘‘(2) The issuance of a restitution order shall not af6 fect the entitlement of a victim to receive compensation

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

8 until the payments actually received by the victim under

9 the restitution order fully compensate the victim for the

10 loss, at which time a person that has provided compensa11 tion to the victim shall be entitled to receive any payments

12 remaining to be paid under the restitution order.

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

14 restitution shall be set off against any amount later recov15 ered as compensatory damages by the victim in—

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

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

18 provided by the law of the State.

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

20 ‘‘(1) all fines, penalties, costs, restitution pay21 ments and other forms of transfers of money or

22 property made pursuant to the sentence of the court

23 shall be made by the offender to an entity des24 ignated by the Director of the Administrative Office

25 of the United States Courts for accounting and pay-
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1 ment by the entity in accordance with this sub2 section;

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

4 the Administrative Office of the United States

5 Courts shall—

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

7 tracks the offender’s obligations and the cur8 rent status in meeting those obligations, unless,

9 after efforts have been made to enforce the res10 titution order and it appears that compliance

11 cannot be obtained, the court determines that

12 continued recordkeeping under this subpara13 graph would not be useful;

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

15 parties when an offender is 90 days in arrears

16 in meeting those obligations; and

17 ‘‘(C) disburse money received from an of18 fender so that each of the following obligations

19 is paid in full in the following sequence:

20 ‘‘(i) a penalty assessment under sec21 tion 3013 of title 18, United States Code;

22 ‘‘(ii) restitution of all victims; and

23 ‘‘(iii) all other fines, penalties, costs,

24 and other payments required under the

25 sentence; and
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1 ‘‘(3) the offender shall advise the entity des2 ignated by the Director of the Administrative Office

3 of the United States Courts of any change in the of4 fender’s address during the term of the restitution

5 order.

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

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

8 Federal or State office for the recording of liens against

9 real or personal property.

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

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

12 any probation, parole, or other form of release of an of13 fender. If a defendant fails to comply with a restitution

14 order, the court may revoke probation or a term of super15 vised release, modify the term or conditions of probation

16 or a term of supervised release, hold the defendant in con17 tempt of court, enter a restraining order or injunction,

18 order the sale of property of the defendant, accept a per19 formance bond, or take any other action necessary to ob20 tain compliance with the restitution order. In determining

21 what action to take, the court shall consider the defend22 ant’s employment status, earning ability, financial re23 sources, the willfulness in failing to comply with the res24 titution order, and any other circumstances that may have
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1 a bearing on the defendant’s ability to comply with the

2 restitution order.

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

4 ‘‘(1) by the United States—

5 ‘‘(A) in the manner provided for the collec6 tion and payment of fines in subchapter (B) of

7 chapter 229 of this title; or

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

9 a civil action; and

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

11 the restitution, in the same manner as a judgment

12 in a civil action.

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

14 at any time to modify a restitution order as appropriate

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

16 offender.’’.

17 SEC. 3. PROCEDURE FOR ISSUING ORDER OF RESTITUTION.

18 Section 3664 of title 18, United States Code, is

19 amended—

20 (1) by striking subsection (a);

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

22 and (e) as subsections (a), (b), (c), and (d), respec23 tively;

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

25 by paragraph (2), to read as follows:
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1 ‘‘(a) The court may order the probation service of the

2 court to obtain information pertaining to the amount of

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

4 the financial resources of the defendant, the financial

5 needs and earning ability of the defendant and the defend6 ant’s dependents, and such other factors as the court

7 deems appropriate. The probation service of the court

8 shall include the information collected in the report of

9 presentence investigation or in a separate report, as the

10 court directs.’’; and

11 (4) by adding at the end the following new sub12 section:

13 ‘‘(e) The court may refer any issue arising in connec14 tion with a proposed order of restitution to a magistrate

15 or special master for proposed findings of fact and rec16 ommendations as to disposition, subject to a de novo de17 termination of the issue by the court.’’.

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