Improving Financial Justice for Victims of Crime

Abstract

This project investigates restitution assessment and enforcement in cases where the Commission awarded compensation to crime victims and requested restitution from offenders in return. The data collected for this project comes from two cohorts of compensation cases -- claims that were closed in 2010 and 2014 -- which allows for a comparison of various metrics over time. For this study, data collected and analyzed from compensation cases eligible for restitution focus on better understanding victims’ experiences along the continuum of: (1) harms suffered, to (2) legal judgments/orders, and finally to (3) the restitution payments received. Within each of these stages of the process, the nature and extent of several indicators of completion are investigated. Moreover, the progression of victims’ cases between these stages are analyzed. This allows for an assessment of successful outcomes, (i.e. was restitution ordered and paid pursuant to state law and/or court order), but also provides important information on where the flow of cases break down, thus providing stakeholders with information on where to concentrate efforts for future restitution cases. Finally, this project builds on past research efforts that only included inmates or parolees, as it also includes data about offenders on probation who were ordered to reimburse the Commission through restitution. This will be an extension of past findings, especially in terms of restitution assessment and payment/collection. It will also provide an opportunity to examine restitution management system-wide, including collections by the Judiciary and the Department of Public Safety/Hawai‘i Paroling Authority. [CVRL Note: this report is a collaboration between the State of Hawai'i Crime Victim Compensation Commission and Chaminade University (CUH). The partnership is part of the 2017-2018 cohort of the Center for Victim Research's funded collaborations between state Victims of Crime Act offices and Statistical Analysis Centers (VOCA-SAC). Each report includes a final segment discussing the research partnership, the future of the partnership, and how the results will inform stakeholders and practice.] (Author Text)