Legal Issues in the Operation of Restitution Programs in a Juvenile Court (From Victims, Offenders, and Alternative Sanctions, P 139-149, 1980, Joe Hudson and Burt Galaway, ed. - See NCJ-74113)

• NCJ Number: 74123
• Author(s): H Feinman
• Date Published: 1980
• Length: 11 pages
• Grant Number(s): 79-JN-AX-0009
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Justice
• Sale Source: Lexington Books
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This paper examines the logical and constitutional problems posed by different methods of ordering restitution, with special emphasis on the unique courts.

Abstract

The operation and design of restitution programs involve many legal issues in juvenile courts. Juvenile cases are disposed under a parens patriae system, in which sentences are supposed to rehabilitate youths rather than punish them. Challenges were brought against court-ordered restitution on the ground that restitution was punitive rather than rehabilitative. Although such challenges were successful in Pennsylvania, the trend in the majority of States is to permit juvenile restitution. This paper addresses legal issues in connection with juvenile restitution programs, including involuntary servitude (when a youth is required to work to comply with a restitution requirement), due process, the method of determining the amount of restitution, the scope and amount of the restitution order, and the method and enforcement of the order of restitution. The paper cites numerous court decisions to illustrate the legal issues discussed. The paper concludes that most courts have found that restitution makes the offenders realize the consequences of their acts and aids the victims with their losses. Although restitution may have some punitive aspects, the rehabilitative aspects are sufficiently great to allow restitution as a disposition for juvenile courts. Thirty-eight endnotes contain court decision citations and bibliographic references.