A criminal hurts you. A judge orders him to pay you restitution. The criminal actually pays. The government gets the money. And you still don’t. Welcome to America’s unclaimed restitution system.

I spend a lot of time investigating money that belongs to ordinary Americans but somehow winds up in government hands.

California auditors recently examined the state’s criminal restitution system and found 9,834 cases in which offenders had fully paid their restitution orders. California estimated it had usable contact information for only about 4,300 of those cases.

The auditor concluded that nearly 60% of the fully paid restitution amounts it examined could not be distributed. At least 11,000 victims were caught up in the broader problem. The criminal paid. The state had the money. The victim still didn’t get it.

Government seems to have no trouble finding you when you owe it money. Miss a tax bill and see how quickly the........

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