Court Opinion

ID: 9430737
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:30:27.679275+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:15:49.878769
License: Public Domain

Justice Marshall,
with whom Justice Stevens joins, dissenting.
Petitioners failed to assert timely objections to the discharge of respondent Robinson’s restitution debt, and the *54majority goes to considerable lengths to excuse this default. Respondent concedes that the restitution obligation would not have been discharged had petitioners objected in a timely fashion. Tr. of Oral Arg. 30.1 When notified of respondent’s bankruptcy proceeding, however, petitioners did nothing. They were told that they could file an objection to Robinson’s discharge, but did not do so. Robinson’s counsel informed the Connecticut Office of Adult Probation (Probation Office) of Robinson’s discharge and of Robinson’s belief that she need make no further payments, but the Probation Office did not respond. Not until almost three years after Robinson’s discharge in bankruptcy did the Probation Office inform Robinson that it did not consider the debt discharged and that it intended to enforce the restitution order.
The Court charitably attributes petitioners’ inaction to the fact that from the start petitioners took the position they assert here. Ante, at 39. But their representations at oral argument suggest only that they failed to object because “state agencies were admittedly somewhat confused on how to handle it,” Tr. of Oral Arg. 9, and were “a little perplexed because this was the first time it happened.” Id., at 16. Petitioners seek a broad construction of the statute to excuse their confusion-induced waiver of the right to object and thereby guarantee that Robinson’s restitution obligation would not be discharged. In my opinion, however, the statute cannot fairly be read to arrive at the result the majority reaches today.
The Court concludes that a criminal restitution obligation is nondischargeable under 11 U. S. C. § 523(a)(7) because it is *55“a fine, penalty, or forfeiture payable to and for the benefit of a governmental unit, and is not compensation for actual pecuniary loss . . . Ibid. I find unconvincing the majority’s conclusion that the criminal restitution order at issue here is not “compensation for actual pecuniary loss.”2 While restitution imposed as a condition of probation under the Connecticut statute is in part a penal sanction, it is also intended to compensate victims for their injuries. The statute permits a court to require a defendant, as a condition of his probation, to “make restitution of the fruits of his offense or make restitution, in an amount he can afford to pay or provide in a suitable manner, for the loss or damage caused thereby . . . .” Conn. Gen. Stat. § 53a-30(a)(4) (1985) (emphasis added). Were the restitution order purely penal, the statute would not connect the amount of restitution to the damage imposed. Tying the amount of restitution to the amount of actual damage sustained by the victim strongly suggests that the payment is meant to compensate the victim. This comports with the theory underlying restitution sanctions. Restitution is not simply a punishment that incidentally compensates the victim. Indeed, compensation is an essential element of a restitution scheme, under which a wrong to the victim of a crime must be redressed not just by penalizing the offender but by restoring *56the victim, as far as possible, to “the position that [he] would have been in if the original criminal act had never occurred.” R. Barnett & J. Hagel, Assessing the Criminal: Restitution, Retribution, and the Legal Process, in Assessing the Criminal: Restitution, Retribution, and the Legal Process 1, 27 (1977); see also id., at 25-28. That the victim has no control over whether restitution will be imposed or in what sum does not mean that the restitution is not compensation for actual pecuniary loss.3
Nor do I accept that we can avoid the consequences of respondent’s discharge in bankruptcy by finding that the restitution obligation was not a “debt.” First, the scope of debts under the Code is expansive. “Debt” is defined in 11 U. S. C. §101(11) as “liability on a claim,” and “claim” is defined in § 101(4) as a “right to payment.” The legislative history of the Code indicates that “claim” was to be given the “broadest possible definition.” H. R. Rep. No. 95-595, p. 309 (1977); S. Rep. No. 95-989, p. 22 (1978); see also Ohio v. Kovacs, 469 U. S. 274, 279 (1985) (“[I]t is apparent that Congress desired a broad definition of a ‘claim’ ”). In light of the broad scope of “debt” under the Code, I agree with the *57Court of Appeals that the Probation Office had a right to payment, notwithstanding “that the right is enforceable by the threat of revocation of probation and incarceration rather than by the threat of levy and execution on the debtor’s property. The right is not the less cognizable because the obligor must suffer loss of freedom rather than loss of property upon failure to pay.” In re Robinson, 776 F. 2d 30, 38 (CA2 1985).4
The definition of “debt” is intentionally broad not only to ensure the debtor a meaningful discharge but also to guarantee as many creditors as possible the right to participate in the distribution of the property of the estate. See H. R. Rep. No. 95-595, swpra, at 180:
“[U]nder the liquidation chapters of the [1898] Bankruptcy Act, certain creditors are not permitted to share in the estate because of the non-provable nature of their claims, and the debtor is not discharged from those claims. Thus, relief for the debtor is incomplete, and those creditors are not given an opportunity to collect in the case on their claims. The proposed law will permit a complete settlement of the affairs of a bankrupt debtor, *58and a complete discharge and fresh start” (footnote omitted).
As the Court of Appeals observed, a conclusion that the restitution obligation was not a debt “would produce the anomalous result that no holder of a right to restitution could participate in the bankruptcy proceeding or receive any distributions of the debtor’s assets in liquidation. There is no evidence that Congress intended such a result.” In re Robinson, 776 F. 2d, at 35-36. On the contrary, Congress plainly intended that fines, penalties, and forfeitures be deemed debts eligible to participate in the distribution of the bankruptcy estate, and the statute provides explicitly for that participation. See 11 U. S. C. § 726(a)(4).5 The very fact that fines, penalties, and forfeitures are made nondis-chargeable under § 523(a)(7) indicates that they were deemed “debts”; if they were not debts, they would not be affected by discharge, see 11 U. S. C. §524, and there would be no need to make them nondischargeable.
While I am wholly in sympathy with the policy interests underlying the Court’s opinion, “in our constitutional system the commitment to the separation of powers is too fundamental for us to pre-empt congressional action by judicially decreeing what accords with ‘common sense and the public weal.’ Our Constitution vests such responsibilities in the political branches.” TVA v. Hill, 437 U. S. 153, 195 (1978). Congress might have amended the Code to achieve the result reached here had it confronted the question, but “[i]t is not for us to speculate, much less act, on whether Congress would have altered its stance had the specific events of this case been anticipated.” Id., at 185. I would affirm the judgment and permit Congress, if it were so inclined, to *59amend the Bankruptcy Code specifically to make criminal restitution obligations nondischargeable in bankruptcy.6 I respectfully dissent.

 Robinson’s restitution debt would doubtless have come under 11 U. S. C. §§ 523(a)(2) or (4), which respectively provide that a discharge in bankruptcy will not affect a debt “for obtaining money . . . by . . . false pretenses, a false representation, or actual fraud,” or a debt “for fraud or defalcation . . . , embezzlement, or larceny.” To prevent discharge of such debts, however, the creditor must make a timely objection and the debtor must receive notice and a hearing. See 11 U. S. C. § 523(c); Bkrtcy. Rule 4007(c).

 Rather than argue solely that the restitution order fits precisely within the language of § 523(a)(7), the Court appears to rely in part on the fact that, prior to the enactment of the Bankruptcy Code, fines and penalties were rendered nondischargeable in bankruptcy under a judicially created exception to discharge. The majority contends that “Congress enacted the Code in 1978 against the background of an established judicial exception to discharge for criminal sentences,” ante, at 46, and that Congress should not be deemed to abrogate judicially created law unless it makes explicit the intent to do so. But, far from abrogating judicially created law making fines and penalties nondischargeable as a general matter, Congress has codified that law and added the requirements of § 523(a)(7). The historical basis of the exception does not negate the additional limitations expressed in the statute.

 The other qualification in § 523(a)(7), that the fine, penalty, or forfeiture must be “payable to and for the benefit of a governmental unit,” is not a consideration here because the restitution order in this case meets this requirement. It does so, however, only because the victim of Robinson’s larceny was a government agency. Where the victim is a private individual, it could not legitimately be said that restitution payments destined for that individual are made “for the benefit of a governmental unit.” Restitution intended to repay a private victim for the damage done to him is only “for the benefit of a governmental unit” in the sense that the State, which comes within the definition of “governmental unit,” see 11 U. S. C. § 101(21), is benefited every time justice is served. The Court appears to take this approach, stating: “The criminal justice system is not operated primarily for the benefit of victims, but for the benefit of society as a whole.” Ante, at 52. If the requirement is to be read so broadly, however, any fine, penalty, or forfeiture would be for the benefit of a governmental unit, making this qualification in § 523(a)(7) superfluous.

 Though Connecticut does not permit the victim to enforce the restitution order as a civil judgment, other jurisdictions do. See, e. g., 18 U. S. C. § 3579(h) (any order of restitution imposed by a federal court “may be enforced by the United States or a victim named in the order to receive the restitution in the same manner as a judgment in a civil action”); Ga. Code Ann. § 17-14-13(a) (1982) (“A restitution order shall be enforceable as is a civil judgment by execution”). Under such statutes, it would be even more difficult to argue that a criminal restitution order does not create a “right to payment” and is consequently not a “debt.” Compare In re Pellegrino, 42 B. R. 129, 132 (Bkrtcy. Ct. Conn. 1984) (“Since a crime victim has no ‘right to payment,’ restitution is not a ‘debt’ under Bankruptcy Code § 101(11)”), with In re Newton, 15 B. R. 708, 710 (Bkrtcy. Ct. ND Ga. 1981) (holding that, since Georgia law provided for enforcement of restitution orders by the victim, “in Georgia, an order of restitution is a debt”).

 The estate is distributed in payment of “claims,” see 11 U. S. C. § 726. The legislative history makes clear that the terms “debt” and “claim” “are coextensive: a creditor has a ‘claim’ against the debtor; the debtor owes a ‘debt’ to the creditor.” H. R. Rep. No. 95-595, p. 310 (1977).

 The Court’s solution only postpones the problem: its holding that the restitution obligation is nondischargeable under § 523(a)(7) leaves open the possibility that such obligations will be dischargeable under Chapter 13. See 11 U. S. C. § 1328(a), 3 W. Norton, Bankruptcy Law and Practice §78.01 (1981); 5 Collier on Bankruptcy ¶ 1328.01[l][c] (15th ed. 1986) (broader discharge intended as incentive for debtors to complete performance under Chapter 13 plans); but see In re Newton, supra, at 710 (holding restitution order nondischargeable under § 1328). The Court’s opinion therefore does not lay to rest the difficulties the courts will have in coordinating the Bankruptcy Code with state criminal restitution statutes.