Victim Restitution for Financial and Emotional Suffering from Fraud
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The principle of restitution is an integral part of virtually every formal system of criminal justice. It holds that, whatever else society does to punish its wrongdoers, it should also insure that the criminal is required, if possible, to restorethe victim to his or her prior state of well-being.
The payment of restitution by perpetrators can mark the end of a financial nightmare for fraud victims. It not only serves to right a wrong, it often allows them to return to whatever level of financial security they enjoyed before the crime. The biggest dream for those who have suffered from financial crime is getting some money back, preferably from the people who stole it from them.
However, in reality, very few fraud perpetrators actually pay restitution. Many perpetrators will have spent the money and have no discernible resources with which to repay victims. In other cases, perpetrators will have placed assets in the names of others or hidden money in offshore accounts, so victims usually collect only pennies on the dollar of what they are owed, or get nothing at all.
One telemarketer recently told a prosecutor:
"I'd rather spend a million dollars fighting extradition than paying it back in restitution to the victims".
There have been attempts to deal with this problem by assigning fraud investigators to track the assets of suspected perpetrators before they are indicted.
Most restitution payments begin only after the defendant is released. So even if the court orders full restitution to victims, the collection and distribution of payments is often difficult, especially if perpetrators are sentenced to long periods of incarceration.
Additionally, victims not officially included in formal indictments are ineligible to receive any restitution unless their repayment is part of a plea negotiation.
Some losses may at least be tax-deductible so consult a qualified tax advisor or the taxation department to see if your losses qualify.
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