{"id":87082,"date":"2019-01-13T12:44:35","date_gmt":"2019-01-13T17:44:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/?p=87082"},"modified":"2019-11-05T15:10:06","modified_gmt":"2019-11-05T20:10:06","slug":"supreme-court-criminal-restitution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/sentencing\/supreme-court-criminal-restitution","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court Narrows Federal Criminal Restitution"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t
According to the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act (MVRA), defendants convicted of crimes in federal court are required to pay their victims criminal restitution for the losses that they suffered. The case of Lagos v. United States<\/em><\/a> involved an issue of interpretation over the act’s language regarding what types of losses would be eligible for restitution. Ultimately, the Supreme Court<\/a> settled on a narrow interpretation of the MVRA and significantly narrowed the types of losses for which a defendant would be required to pay restitution.<\/p>\n Criminal restitution involves a court order for a defendant convicted of a crime to pay the victim for the losses that he or she endured as a result of the defendant’s criminal conduct. Even if a victim or prosecutor does not specifically request that a convicted defendant be ordered to pay the victim restitution, the court is required to consider it as part of any criminal sentence. It is viewed as both a deterrent to dissuade potential criminals from committing crimes and as a compensation mechanism to help victims recover from the crimes they endured. A restitution order is a common part of a sentence in theft and fraud cases<\/a> because they typically involve financial crimes<\/a> that result in at least one victim losing money.<\/p>\nWhat is Criminal Restitution?<\/h2>\n