Objectives, Scope, and Methodology

The objectives of this report are to (1) identify the percentage of offenders who were ordered to pay fines or restitution in fiscal year 1997 and those who were not, (2) identify differences across judicial circuits and districts in the percent of offenders who were ordered to pay fines or restitution and those who were not, and (3) provide officials’ opinions about possible reasons for those differences. In performing our analysis, we first considered all federal offenders and how the likelihood of being ordered to pay fines or restitution was affected by selected demographic characteristics of the offenders (sex, race, citizenship, education, and number of dependents); the type of offense they committed (whether it involved property, drugs, firearms, fraud, immigration, a violent or other offense); characteristics of the offender’s sentence (whether it occurred before or after MVRA was enacted, whether the offender was sentenced to prison, probation, or an alternative sentence imposed, and whether there was more than a single count of conviction); and the circuit and district in which the sentencing occurred. Percent of Federal Offenders Ordered to Pay Fines or Restitution by Judicial Circuit or District

The percent of federal offenders sentenced that were ordered to pay fines and restitution varied substantially across the 12 federal circuits. Differences Among the Judicial Circuits and Districts in Ordering Fines or Restitution

While many factors influence 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. We then performed a multivariate statistical analysis for offenders sentenced for four types of offenses— robbery, larceny, fraud, and drug trafficking—and controlled for such things, among others, as offender characteristics, type of crime committed, length of sentence, and type of sentence imposed such as prison, probation, or an alternative. We asked court officials and prosecutors in seven districts for possible explanations of why these differences might exist. While 6 percent of immigration offenders were ordered to pay a fine, almost one-third of property offenders were likewise ordered. Figures 4 and 5 show the percentage of offenders who were ordered to pay fines or restitution, by type of offense. Overall, for offenders sentenced during fiscal year 1997, 26 percent of offenders who were sentenced under the USSC Guidelines for crimes committed before MVRA went into effect were ordered to pay restitution, compared with 12 percent who were sentenced for crimes committed after MVRA went into effect (See table I.1 in app. Table I.2 shows that the percentages of offenders ordered to pay fines ranged from 7 percent to 42 percent, while the percentages of offenders ordered to pay restitution across the 12 circuits ranged from 15 percent to 32 percent. Table I.3 shows that across the 94 districts, the percentages of offenders ordered to pay fines and restitution ranged from 1 percent to 84 percent, and 3 percent to 49 percent, respectively. The odds on being ordered to pay a fine or restitution for a particular category of offender were obtained by simply dividing the number of offenders who were ordered to pay a fine or restitution by the number of offenders who were not ordered to pay.
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on federal offenders who were ordered to pay criminal fines and victim restitution, focusing on: (1) the percentage of offenders who were ordered to pay fines or restitution in fiscal year (FY) 1997 and those who were not; (2) differences across judicial circuits and districts in the percent of offenders who were ordered to pay fines or restitution and those who were not; and (3) officials' opinions about possible reasons for those differences.

What GAO Found

GAO noted that: (1) while 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 (FY) 1997; (2) most of the approximately 48,000 federal offenders sentenced under United States Sentencing Commission Guidelines in FY 1997 were not ordered by the courts to pay a fine or restitution; (3) the percentage of offenders who were ordered to pay fines or restitution varied greatly across the 12 federal judicial circuits and 94 federal judicial districts; (4) across districts, the percentage of offenders who were ordered to pay fines ranged from 1 percent to 84 percent, and the percentage of the offenders who were ordered to pay restitution ranged from 3 percent to 49 percent; (5) an important factor in determining whether an offender was ordered to pay a fine or restitution was the type of offense committed; (6) while 6 percent of offenders sentenced for immigration offenses were ordered to pay a fine, almost one-third of property offenders were ordered to pay; (7) besides the type of offense committed, other factors that were associated with whether an offender was ordered to pay included factors such as sex, race, education, citizenship, length of sentence, and type of sentence imposed, such as prison, probation, or an alternative; (8) even after controlling for all of these factors for four specific types of offenses in GAO's multivariate statistical analyses, the judicial circuit or district in which the offender was sentenced continued to be a major factor in determining whether an offender was ordered to pay a fine or restitution; (9) some court officials and prosecutors provided explanations of why differences existed among the districts; (10) some attributed the differences to the nature and type of offenses committed or types of offenders sentenced in the districts; (11) some officials believed that the culture in the judicial district among the prosecutors and court officials contributed to whether offenders were fined or ordered to pay restitution; and (12) since the imposition of restitution for certain offenses became mandatory with the passage of Mandatory Victims Restitution Act (MVRA), the percentage of offenders, overall, who were ordered to pay restitution during FY 1997 actually declined from 26 percent of offenders sentenced for crimes committed before April 24, 1996, to 12 percent of offenders sentenced for crimes committed on or after April 24, 1996, when MVRA became effective.