Corrections Sentencing has an interesting post about an offender pays system for rape cases in Michigan:
I’m always intrigued by these “let’s make offenders pay for stuff” ideas, like this rape victims services center in MI. I don’t automatically knee-jerk one way or the other, but I do think there’s a danger of overselling the potential revenue. Like this article says $1.6m. “could” result from the proposal if passed. Also, “$0” I suspect. And the article is horrific in letting that matter drop. Offenders can be terrible in meeting restitution and fee requirements, not just because they’re eeeevillll, but also because, duh, they’re offenders without much in resources. In fact, this can become a major means of getting these people revoked where they will never have the opportunity to meet what’s being required of them and actually end up costing the rest of us more. So you’ll have a bunch of rape victims in MI hopeful but eventually disillusioned, probably blaming the offender, and it was all just because no one was honest about the likely outcomes from the beginning. Still, let’s see where this goes, especially if the newspaper will cover it again and go into why things didn’t turn out as planned.
Restorative justice is often viewed as a poor fit for sex offenses. Generally, sex offenders don't have a lot of money as Michael Connelly notes. Also, money compensation seems to do less to make a victim "whole" when the crime is sexual in nature. So, while the efforts are often well-intentioned, they don't really offer much in terms of justice, in my opinion.
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