United States Supreme Court
Paroline v. United States
The Fifth Circuit erred in holding that defendant, who pled guilty to possessing child pornography, two of which depicted images of the victim here, was liable for said victim's entire losses from the trade in her images, where: 1) restitution is proper under 18 U.S.C. 2259 only to the extent the defendant's offense proximately caused a victim's losses; 2) victims should be compensated and defendants should be held to account for the impact of their conduct on those victims, but defendants should only be made liable for the consequences and gravity of their own conduct, ...
Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Landmark Children’s Rights Case
Earlier today, the United States Supreme Court agreed to review a case brought by the Marsh Law Firm concerning criminal restitution for victims of child pornography.The Court agreed to decide “what, if any, causal relationship or nexus between the defendant's conduct and the victim's harm or damages must the government or the victim establish in order to recover restitution under 18 U.S.C. §2259,” the Mandatory Restitution for Sexual Exploitation of Children Act of 1994.The case, Doyle Randall Paroline v. Amy Unknown, arises out of a long-fought and ...
