States step up demands to collect restitution

updated 9:31 p.m. ET Dec. 21, 2007

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - A young burglar accused of burning down the St. Paul United Methodist Church 13 years ago was ordered to make $2.4 million in restitution. It was, at best, wishful thinking on the part of the court.

A new church was built, but no thanks to him. He coughed up a paltry $374.

There is no central database that can put a total price tag on unpaid court-ordered restitution in all 50 states. However, a nationwide examination by The AP shows it is clearly many billions of dollars.

Often, the problem is that restitution orders are purely symbolic, the amounts so big that many defendants can't possibly pay up. But it is also the case that many states make little effort to go after whatever money is available.

"It's a system that's fraught with inadequacies, improper checks and balances, no procedures in place. It's sort of a haphazard little dance that everyone dances around," said Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham.

Forcing defendants to pay up
That is changing in some places. Many states have begun taking steps to force defendants to pay up. Some, like Arizona, are turning to outside collection agencies for help. Others, such as Pennsylvania and Colorado, are ratcheting up their own in-house collection efforts.

"There was a culture in Arizona that you can blow off paying money to the courts in some areas because they aren't going to do anything about it. So that's the first thing we set about to change," said Michael DiMarco, consolidated collections manager for Arizona's courts.

The amount of unpaid court costs, fines, fees and restitution in Arizona totaled $831 million at last count. But the state has managed to bring in close to $90 million since it contracted four years ago with Affiliated Computer Services of Dallas, DiMarco said.

Missouri and Minnesota also use Affiliated, which duns people by mail and phone and keeps a percentage of whatever it collects.

"We have cases going back to 1984 that people are paying on, simply because somebody finally came and said, 'You owe money,'" DiMarco said.

In addition, Arizona feeds information from its court system computers to other state agencies, and they use it intercept deadbeats' state income tax refunds and prevent them from registering their vehicles until they pay up.

Variety of new tactics
Other states have taken a variety of approaches.

Pennsylvania is using a new computer network to help counties customize payment plans, track overdue payments and generate delinquency letters. Unpaid fees, fines and restitution in Pennsylvania stand at a whopping $1.55 billion, according to the first-ever statewide estimate, obtained by the AP after it asked the state to run a query through the computer system.

Kansas gives victims access to defendants' personal financial information. Florida imposes an income deduction order when restitution is part of the sentence. Tennessee claims a portion of the proceeds from the sale of inmate arts and crafts. Kentucky extends parole until restitution is fully paid.

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