By Mary Reilly / For The Herald
If House Bill 1412, currently in front of the state Legislature, is adopted convicted criminals in our state will benefit and crime victims and taxpayers will suffer.
The group who proposed the legislation includes a state representative who has felony convictions, a grass-roots committee led by another person with felony convictions and a caucus of inmates within the Department of Corrections. Their goal is to take away the accountability of criminals for what they have done and put it back on the victims of the crimes they have committed. As a community, we can’t let this happen.
This group is working to reduce or eliminate Legal Financial Obligations — including restitution — criminals are ordered to pay when they are convicted, claiming oppression while also stating that making criminals pay their obligations hinders their reintegration into society. Under the current version of the bill, courts could waive restitution and interest paid to insurers and state agencies if the offender does not have the current or likely future ability to pay.
What this group fails to mention in the bill is the impact and effect it would have on the thousands of victims of criminals as well as taxpayers. They are called legal financial obligations, not legal financial suggestions.
Restitution has been a form of compensating victims since 1688 B.C. Offender accountability must continue to incorporate measures to directly reimburse victims for their financial losses related to the crimes against them. Victims suffer considerable monetary losses as a result of crime, many of which are not recoverable through insurance, victim compensation funds, or other forms of financial recovery.
Restitution is a fundamental right of all crime victims. Its importance for victims with respect to financial as well as psychological recovery from the aftermath of crime is a vital part of the criminal justice system. HB 1412 would further traumatize victims and send a clear message to victims that criminals are more important than they are. Their trauma doesn’t matter, nor do their injuries. This bill enables criminals and reduces their accountability.
Many victims have astronomical medical bills related to injuries caused by criminals. In 2020 in our state, there were 99,602 reported crimes against persons, with 41,208 arrests made. That means 41,208 victims of crime would be directly affected by this bill. These victims already struggle to recover from the trauma caused by the criminals who robbed, assaulted or raped them. The criminal would be off the hook.
If the victims are unable to pay for their medical bills related to the crime, the cost falls on the taxpayers to do so. The trickle-down effect of HB 1412 is atrocious and would financially impact everyone but the criminal. That is not right or fair, and certainly not“justice.
HB 1412 is also misleading as the group claims there is an undue financial hardship for criminals when they are released from prison. To get an idea of what they were saying, I observed sentencing hearings in King, Pierce, Thurston and Snohomish Counties recently and heard every single judge set the restitution’s monthly payments based on the income and ability of defendants to pay. Most were indigent. The average monthly amount ordered in all four counties was $25 a month starting 60 days after release from prison. Many judges set the payments at $5 or $10 a month. These amounts were across the board, not based on gender, race or even crime. This dispels the claim the group is making in this bill about “undue financial hardship.”
Courts are open to the public and I encourage you to see for yourselves, so you have the full picture. If requiring a $5 to $25 a month payment in restitution is an undue hardship for criminals, what about the additional undue hardship this bill will cause victims?
An important lesson we learn as children is that actions have consequences. People who commit crimes against others have consequences, which include paying costs related to any harm they cause to others. Restitution is not only an important part of the criminal justice system for victims, but also is a necessary and important reminder to offenders about the direct harm they have caused to victims and to their community. Their actions have consequences, including paying the financial cost of the damage they have done to others.
State lawmakers should reject HB 1412.
Mary Reilly lives in Edmonds.
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