Opinion ID: 24
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Victim Witness Protection Act

Text: The VWPA authorizes a district court in criminal sentencing proceedings to order `in addition to or . . . in lieu of any other penalty authorized by law, that the defendant make restitution to any victim' of the offense. United States v. Acosta, 303 F.3d 78, 86 (1st Cir.2002)(quoting 18 U.S.C. § 3663(a)). The purpose of the statute is to insure that the wrongdoer make good[], to the degree possible, the harm he has caused his victim. United States v. Vaknin, 112 F.3d 579, 582 (1st Cir.1997)(quoting S.Rep. No. 97-532, at 31 (1982), reprinted in 1982 U.S.C.C.A.N. 2515, 2536). When the VWPA was enacted in 1982, it represented a tectonic shift in the criminal restitution regime, transforming criminal restitution from a sporadically imposed condition of probation into the sentencing norm in cases involving quantifiable economic loss. Id. (explaining that federal judges were not able to impose criminal restitution as a condition of probation until 1925 when Congress passed the Federal Probation Act and, even after that, used the power sparingly). In its earlier forms, the VWPA did not define who was a victim eligible for restitution. In 1990 the Supreme Court filled that gap, construing the statute to authorize an award of restitution only for the loss caused by the specific conduct that is the basis of the offense of conviction, and not counts which were dismissed. Hughey v. United States, 495 U.S. 411, 413, 421, 110 S.Ct. 1979, 109 L.Ed.2d 408 (1990)(recognizing that [t]he essence of a plea agreement is that both the prosecution and the defense make concessions to avoid potential losses). Congress responded in short order, amending the VWPA to provide that [f]or purposes of restitution, a victim of an offense that involves as an element a scheme, a conspiracy, or pattern of criminal activity means any person directly harmed by the defendant's conduct in the course of the scheme, conspiracy or pattern. Crime Control Act of 1990, Pub.L. No. 101-647, 104 Stat. 4789 (codified at 18 U.S.C. § 3663(a)(2)). In such cases, like this one, the district court may now order restitution without regard to whether the conduct that harmed the victim was conduct underlying the offense of conviction. Acosta, 303 F.3d at 86-87. In 1996 Congress amended the VWPA again, retaining the specific definition of victim for crimes involving a scheme, conspiracy, or pattern of activity and adding more generally that the term `victim' means a person directly and proximately harmed as a result of the commission of an offense for which restitution may be ordered. Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, Pub.L. No. 104-132, 110 Stat. 1214 (Apr. 24, 1996)(codified at 18 U.S.C. § 3663(a)(2)).