NCJ Number
179543
Date Published
1999
Length
64 pages
Annotation
This report presents findings from an investigation of cases in which Federal offenders were or were not ordered to pay criminal fines and victim restitution.
Abstract
One objective of the investigation was to identify the percentage of offenders who were ordered to pay fines or restitution in fiscal year 1997 and those who were not. A second objective was to identify differences across judicial circuits and districts in the percentage of offenders who were ordered to pay fines or restitution and those who were not; and a third objective was to solicit officials' opinions about possible reasons for those differences. The study also documented changes in the rate at which offenders were ordered to pay restitution before and after the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act (MVRA) was enacted April 24, 1996. The findings show that although many factors influenced whether an offender was ordered to pay a fine or restitution, the judicial circuit or district where the offender was sentenced was a major factor during fiscal year 1997. This raises the issue of whether the objective of uniformity in the imposition of fines and restitution is being met. Most of the approximately 48,000 Federal offenders sentenced under Federal sentencing guidelines were not ordered by the courts to pay a fine or restitution. Approximately 19 percent were fined and approximately 20 percent were ordered to pay restitution. An important factor in determining whether an offender was ordered to pay a fine or restitution was the type of offense committed. Other factors were gender, race, education, citizenship, length of sentence, and type of sentence imposed, such as prison, probation, or an alternative. Since the imposition of restitution for certain offenses became mandatory under the MVRA, the percentage of offenders, overall, who were ordered to pay restitution during fiscal year 1997 actually declined from 26 percent to 12 percent. 14 tables and 11 figures