NACDL releases “Empty Pockets and Empty Promises: How Federal Restitution Law Fails Everyone”

The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) today released this lengthy new report written by LawProf Cortney Lollar. Here is the report’s executive summary:

Criminal restitution has become a regular part of sentencing in criminal cases.  And yet it remains widely misunderstood — both in its implementation and its effects.  Criminal restitution is seen as one of the criminal legal system’s primary mechanisms for helping those who have committed a wrong recognize the harm they have caused and financially restore the crime victim to their pre-crime status, to the extent possible.  Although courts have repeatedly acknowledged restitution’s punitive nature, many perceive restitution to be a legal financial obligation distinct from criminal fines, forfeiture, and court fees because of its unique role in compensating crime victims.  In practice, however, criminal restitution operates similarly to other criminal legal financial obligations.  Criminal restitution has become a form of punishment whose laudatory compensation goals are eclipsed by its punitive effects.  Closer scrutiny of this criminal remedy permits a clearer picture of its strengths and weaknesses and will allow for a critical re-envisioning of criminal restitution so that it better satisfies crime victims and minimizes the outsized impact on those with criminal restitution orders.