[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 665 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 665

           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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
           To control crime by mandatory victim restitution.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Victim Restitution Act of 1995''.

SEC. 2. MANDATORY RESTITUTION AND OTHER PROVISIONS.

    (a) Order of Restitution.--Section 3663 of title 18, United States 
Code, is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1)--
                            (i) by striking ``may order, in addition to 
                        or, in the case of a misdemeanor, in lieu of 
                        any other penalty authorized by law'' and 
                        inserting ``shall order''; and
                            (ii) by adding at the end the following: 
                        ``The requirement of this paragraph does not 
                        affect the power of the court to impose any 
                        other penalty authorized by law. In the case of 
                        a misdemeanor, the court may impose restitution 
                        in lieu of any other penalty authorized by 
                        law.'';
                    (B) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(4) In addition to ordering restitution of the victim of the 
offense of which a defendant is convicted, a court may order 
restitution of any person who, as shown by a preponderance of evidence, 
was harmed physically, emotionally, or pecuniarily, by unlawful conduct 
of the defendant during--
            ``(A) the criminal episode during which the offense 
        occurred; or
            ``(B) the course of a scheme, conspiracy, or pattern of 
        unlawful activity related to the offense.'';
            (2) in subsection (b)(1)(B) by striking ``impractical'' and 
        inserting ``impracticable'';
            (3) in subsection (b)(2) by inserting ``emotional or'' 
        after ``resulting in'';
            (4) in subsection (b)--
                    (A) by striking ``and'' at the end of paragraph 
                (4);
                    (B) by redesignating paragraph (5) as paragraph 
                (6); and
                    (C) by inserting after paragraph (4) the following 
                new paragraph:
            ``(5) in any case, reimburse the victim for necessary child 
        care, transportation, and other expenses related to 
        participation in the investigation or prosecution of the 
        offense or attendance at proceedings related to the offense; 
        and'';
            (5) in subsection (c) by striking ``If the court decides to 
        order restitution under this section, the'' and inserting 
        ``The'';
            (6) by striking subsections (d), (e), (f), (g), and (h);
            (7) by redesignating subsection (i) as subsection (m); and
            (8) by inserting after subsection (c) the following:
    ``(d)(1) The court shall order restitution to a victim in the full 
amount of the victim's losses as determined by the court and without 
consideration of--
            ``(A) the economic circumstances of the offender; or
            ``(B) the fact that a victim has received or is entitled to 
        receive compensation with respect to a loss from insurance or 
        any other source.
    ``(2) Upon determination of the amount of restitution owed to each 
victim, the court shall specify in the restitution order the manner in 
which and the schedule according to which the restitution is to be 
paid, in consideration of--
            ``(A) the financial resources and other assets of the 
        offender;
            ``(B) projected earnings and other income of the offender; 
        and
            ``(C) any financial obligations of the offender, including 
        obligations to dependents.
    ``(3) A restitution order may direct the offender to make a single, 
lump-sum payment, partial payment at specified intervals, or such in-
kind payments as may be agreeable to the victim and the offender.
    ``(4) An in-kind payment described in paragraph (3) may be in the 
form of--
            ``(A) return of property;
            ``(B) replacement of property; or
            ``(C) services rendered to the victim or to a person or 
        organization other than the victim.
    ``(e) When the court finds that more than 1 offender has 
contributed to the loss of a victim, the court may make each offender 
liable for payment of the full amount of restitution or may apportion 
liability among the offenders to reflect the level of contribution and 
economic circumstances of each offender.
    ``(f) When the court finds that more than 1 victim has sustained a 
loss requiring restitution by an offender, the court shall order full 
restitution of each victim but may provide for different payment 
schedules to reflect the economic circumstances of each victim.
    ``(g)(1) If the victim has received or is entitled to receive 
compensation with respect to a loss from insurance or any other source, 
the court shall order that restitution be paid to the person who 
provided or is obligated to provide the compensation, but the 
restitution order shall provide that all restitution of victims 
required by the order be paid to the victims before any restitution is 
paid to such a provider of compensation.
    ``(2) The issuance of a restitution order shall not affect the 
entitlement of a victim to receive compensation with respect to a loss 
from insurance or any other source until the payments actually received 
by the victim under the restitution order fully compensate the victim 
for the loss, at which time a person that has provided compensation to 
the victim shall be entitled to receive any payments remaining to be 
paid under the restitution order.
    ``(3) Any amount paid to a victim under an order of restitution 
shall be set off against any amount later recovered as compensatory 
damages by the victim in--
            ``(A) any Federal civil proceeding; and
            ``(B) any State civil proceeding, to the extent provided by 
        the law of the State.
    ``(h) A restitution order shall provide that--
            ``(1) all fines, penalties, costs, restitution payments and 
        other forms of transfers of money or property made pursuant to 
        the sentence of the court shall be made by the offender to an 
        entity designated by the Director of the Administrative Office 
        of the United States Courts for accounting and payment by the 
        entity in accordance with this subsection;
            ``(2) the entity designated by the Director of the 
        Administrative Office of the United States Courts shall--
                    ``(A) log all transfers in a manner that tracks the 
                offender's obligations and the current status in 
                meeting those obligations, unless, after efforts have 
                been made to enforce the restitution order and it 
                appears that compliance cannot be obtained, the court 
                determines that continued recordkeeping under this 
                subparagraph would not be useful; and
                    ``(B) notify the court and the interested parties 
                when an offender is 30 days in arrears in meeting those 
                obligations; and
            ``(3) the offender shall advise the entity designated by 
        the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States 
        Courts of any change in the offender's address during the term 
        of the restitution order.
    ``(i) A restitution order shall constitute a lien against all 
property of the offender and may be recorded in any Federal or State 
office for the recording of liens against real or personal property.
    ``(j) Compliance with the schedule of payment and other terms of a 
restitution order shall be a condition of any probation, parole, or 
other form of release of an offender. If a defendant fails to comply 
with a restitution order, the court may revoke probation or a term of 
supervised release, modify the term or conditions of probation or a 
term of supervised release, hold the defendant in contempt of court, 
enter a restraining order or injunction, order the sale of property of 
the defendant, accept a performance bond, or take any other action 
necessary to obtain compliance with the restitution order. In 
determining what action to take, the court shall consider the 
defendant's employment status, earning ability, financial resources, 
the willfulness in failing to comply with the restitution order, and 
any other circumstances that may have a bearing on the defendant's 
ability to comply with the restitution order.
    ``(k) An order of restitution may be enforced--
            ``(1) by the United States--
                    ``(A) in the manner provided for the collection and 
                payment of fines in subchapter B of chapter 229 of this 
                title; or
                    ``(B) in the same manner as a judgment in a civil 
                action; and
            ``(2) by a victim named in the order to receive the 
        restitution, in the same manner as a judgment in a civil 
        action.
    ``(l) A victim or the offender may petition the court at any time 
to modify a restitution order as appropriate in view of a change in the 
economic circumstances of the offender.''.
    (b) Procedure for Issuing Order of Restitution.--Section 3664 of 
title 18, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by striking subsection (a);
            (2) by redesignating subsections (b), (c), (d), and (e) as 
        subsections (a), (b), (c), and (d);
            (3) by amending subsection (a), as redesignated by 
        paragraph (2), to read as follows:
    ``(a) The court may order the probation service of the court to 
obtain information pertaining to the amount of loss sustained by any 
victim as a result of the offense, the financial resources of the 
defendant, the financial needs and earning ability of the defendant and 
the defendant's dependents, and such other factors as the court deems 
appropriate. The probation service of the court shall include the 
information collected in the report of presentence investigation or in 
a separate report, as the court directs.''; and
            (4) by adding at the end thereof the following new 
        subsection:
    ``(e) The court may refer any issue arising in connection with a 
proposed order of restitution to a magistrate or special master for 
proposed findings of fact and recommendations as to disposition, 
subject to a de novo determination of the issue by the court.''.
                                 <all>