Restitution in the Context of Criminal Justice

In 2015, the Canadian Victims’ Bill of Rights, promised to recognize the rights of victims in the criminal justice system and introduced the right to restitution. Restitution, which consists of an amount of money paid by the offender to the victim in order to make redress for the harm suffered, involves numerous advantages, as well as significant disadvantages or limitations for victims. According to the Bill of Rights, “Every victim has the right to have the court consider making a restitution order against the offender,” and, in order to facilitate the victims’ restitution requests, together with the Victims’ Bill of Rights a standard form has been developed. As such, it important to examine the implementation of restitution orders within the criminal justice system in Canada and to question their effectiveness for victims. In this article, we delve into the concept of restitution in order to better understand its use, its function, and its reach in the Canadian criminal justice system. We examine how restitution orders are applied, their advantages and limitations for victims, and we present several alternatives from other justice systems.