What is restitution?

George Tragos | Peter Tragos | Peter Sartes

In a criminal case in many times the victim of the case has some kind of economic loss or damages. That is what the restitution is designed to take care of. If a client pleads guilty, the court will order as part of the sentence that they pay the victim back what the victim lost because of the crime.

In many occasions, a defendant cannot pay it back. Maybe they have monthly payments they're supposed to make during probation, and they miss those monthly payments. Unfortunately, at that point a judge can say restitution has not been paid, if you don't pay the restitution, then I'm gonna send you to prison, and that could be the result of someone not paying a victim back for the economic loss they suffered.