Opinion ID: 441742
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the victim and witness protection act of 1982

Text: 13 Congress enacted the VWPA to improve the treatment of victims and witnesses in the federal criminal justice system. The Act is designed to protect witnesses from harassment and threats by the defendant, increase the involvement of victims in the decisions and progress of the case, and restore victims to as whole a position as possible. S.Rep. No. 532, 97th Cong., 2d Sess. 10, reprinted in 1982 U.S.Code Cong. & Ad.News 2515, 2516. One of the stated purposes of the VWPA is to ensure that the Federal Government does all that is possible within limits of available resources to assist victims and witnesses of crime without infringing on the constitutional rights of the defendant. 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1512 note. 14 Two major features of the Act are implicated in this case: (1) the Act broadens a victim's restitution rights by permitting a sentencing judge to impose restitution in conjunction with any other sentence, 18 U.S.C. Secs. 3579 and 3580; and (2) the Act amends Rule 32 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure to require the preparation of a victim impact statement as part of the presentence investigative report, to assess the effect of the defendant's crime on the victim, Fed.R.Crim.P. 32(c)(2). 15 Restitution has always been one of the options available to a sentencing judge. Prior to the Act, however, restitution could be imposed only as a condition of probation under the Probation Act, 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3651. In the Senate committee report submitted with the VWPA, 2 Congress criticized the courts' limited use of restitution as a condition of probation, finding that federal criminal courts had reduc[ed] restitution from being an inevitable if not exclusive sanction to being an occasional afterthought. S.Rep. No. 532, 97th Cong., 2d Sess. 30, reprinted in 1982 U.S.Code Cong. & Ad.News 2536. Under the new legislation, restitution may be imposed not only in conjunction with probation, but also in addition to incarceration and/or fine, or even as an independent sentence. As a means of encouraging frequent use of the restitution option, the court is required to state its reasons on the record if it decides not to order full restitution to the crime victim in each case. 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3579(a)(2). 16 The Act amends subsection (c)(2) of Fed.R.Crim.P. 32 3 to require that the presentence investigative report, which is prepared for the court by the Probation Service, include a statement containing information about the financial, social, psychological and medical impact on the victim of the crime, or any other information that may aid the court in ordering restitution. The court will use this victim impact statement to determine the defendant's restitution liability. See S.Rep. No. 532, 97th Cong., 2d Sess. 11-13, reprinted in 1982 U.S.Code Cong. & Ad.News 2517-19. 17 The provisions of the VWPA authorizing restitution awards, Secs. 3579 & 3580, are set forth in their entirety in the margin. 4 Subsection 3579(a)(1) permits the court to order restitution in addition to or in lieu of any other sentence, and, if imprisonment is ordered, restitution may become a condition of subsequent parole or probation. 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3579(a)(1), (g). Subsection 3579(b) enumerates the types of property damage and bodily injury expenses the victim may recover. The court also may order that restitution, including funeral expenses, be paid to the estate of a deceased victim, and, with the consent of the victim or his estate, make restitution payable in services in lieu of money. 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3579(b)(3), (b)(4), (c). 18 Subsection 3580(a) broadly defines the factors the court may consider in ordering restitution. They include the amount of loss sustained by the victim as a result of the offense, the financial resources of the defendant, the financial needs and earning ability of the defendant and his dependents, and other factors the court deems appropriate. Subsection 3580(c) directs the court to disclose to the defendant and the Government all portions of the victim impact statement prepared by the Probation Service, and subsection 3580(d) specifies that any dispute about the proper amount or type of restitution should be resolved by the court by a preponderance of the evidence. The Government must carry the burden of proof as to the victim's loss, and in mitigation the defendant may demonstrate the extent of his financial resources and needs. 19 According to subsection 3579(h), restitution orders may be enforced in a civil action by the victim or the United States. The Act also reduces the victim's burden of establishing the defendant's liability in a subsequent suit brought for additional damages for pain and suffering, punitive damages or other injuries not covered by the restitution order; subsection 3580(e) states that a defendant convicted of an offense for which restitution has been ordered shall be estopped from denying the essential allegations of that offense in a subsequent federal or state proceeding brought by the victim. To prevent double recovery, subsection 3579(e)(2) provides that an amount paid to a victim as restitution shall be set off against any compensatory damages later recovered in a civil proceeding.