18 U.S.C. § 3663A — Mandatory restitution to victims of certain crimes

(a)(1) Despite any other law, when the court sentences a defendant convicted of an offense described in subsection (c), it must order the defendant to pay restitution to the offense’s victim. If the victim has died, the defendant must pay the victim’s estate. For a misdemeanor, restitution must be ordered in addition to, or instead of, any other penalty that the law allows.

(a)(2) In this section, “victim” means a person directly and proximately harmed by an offense for which restitution may be ordered. If the offense includes a scheme, conspiracy, or pattern of criminal activity as an element, “victim” also includes any person directly harmed by the defendant’s criminal conduct during that scheme, conspiracy, or pattern.

If the victim is under 18, incompetent, incapacitated, or deceased, one of the following may exercise the victim’s rights under this section: the victim’s legal guardian; the representative of the victim’s estate; another family member; or another person the court appoints as suitable. The defendant may not be named as that representative or guardian.

(a)(3) If the parties agree in a plea agreement, the court must also order restitution to people other than the offense’s victim.

(a)(4) Clarification.—When ordering restitution under this section, the court must order the defendant to reimburse a person who has taken on the victim’s rights under paragraph (2) for that person’s necessary and reasonable expenses of the following kinds:

(A) Lost income, child care, transportation, and other expenses incurred during, and directly related to, investigating or prosecuting the offense or attending proceedings related to it.

(B) Lost income, transportation, and other expenses directly related to transporting the victim for necessary medical and related professional services and devices for physical, psychiatric, and psychological care. This includes nonmedical care and treatment provided under a method of healing recognized by the law of the place where the treatment is provided.

(C) Lost income, transportation, and other expenses directly related to transporting the victim to receive necessary physical and occupational therapy and rehabilitation.

(b) The restitution order must require the defendant to do the following:

(b)(1) If the offense damaged, caused the loss of, or destroyed the victim’s property, the defendant must do one of these things:

(A) Return the property to its owner or to someone the owner designates; or

(B) If returning the property is impossible, impracticable, or inadequate, pay an amount calculated as follows. First, determine which is greater: the property’s value on the date it was damaged, lost, or destroyed, or its value on the date of sentencing. Then subtract the value, as of the date the property is returned, of any part of the property that is returned.

(b)(2) If the offense caused the victim bodily injury, the defendant must:

(A) Pay the cost of necessary medical and related professional services and devices for physical, psychiatric, and psychological care. This includes nonmedical care and treatment provided under a method of healing recognized by the law of the place where the treatment is provided;

(B) Pay the cost of necessary physical and occupational therapy and rehabilitation; and

(C) Reimburse the victim for income the victim lost because of the offense.

(b)(3) If the offense caused bodily injury that resulted in the victim’s death, the defendant must pay the cost of necessary funeral and related services.

(b)(4) In every case, the defendant must reimburse the victim for lost income and necessary child care, transportation, and other expenses incurred while the victim participated in investigating or prosecuting the offense or attended proceedings related to it.

(c)(1) This section applies to every sentencing proceeding for a conviction of, or plea agreement concerning charges for, an offense that meets both of these conditions:

(A) The offense is one of the following:

(i) A “crime of violence,” as defined in section 16. This section does not define “crime of violence.”

(ii) An offense against property under this title, or under section 416(a) of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 856(a)), including an offense committed by fraud or deceit;

(iii) An offense described in section 3 of the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act of 2019;

(iv) An offense described in section 1365, which concerns tampering with consumer products; or

(v) An offense under section 670, which concerns theft of medical products; and

(B) An identifiable victim or victims suffered a physical injury or “pecuniary loss.” This section does not define “identifiable victim” or “pecuniary loss.”

(c)(2) If a plea agreement does not result in a conviction for an offense described in paragraph (1), this section applies only if the plea agreement specifically says that an offense listed in paragraph (1) gave rise to the plea agreement.

(c)(3) This section does not apply to an offense described in paragraph (1)(A)(ii) or (iii) if the court finds, based on facts in the record, either of the following:

(A) The number of identifiable victims is so large that restitution would be impracticable; or

(B) Deciding complex factual issues about what caused the victims’ losses or how much those losses were would complicate or prolong sentencing so much that the need to provide restitution to any victim is outweighed by the burden on the sentencing process.

(d) A restitution order under this section must be issued and enforced under section 3664.