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The making of amends for a wrong one has done, by paying money to or otherwise helping those who have been wronged; "the courts required a convicted offender to make financial reparation to his victim".
When We The People are victims of wrongdoing we have access to reparations. What does that mean in the USA? Below is Google's BARD answer to how many crime victims achieve reparations.
BARD is Asked: How Many Crime Victims Get Reparations?
The number of crime victims who receive reparations varies depending on the type of crime and the jurisdiction. In general, however, a relatively small percentage of crime victims receive reparations. According to the National Crime Victimization Survey, only about 1 in 10 victims of violent crime receive any form of financial compensation from the offender. This number is even lower for victims of property crime. There are a number of reasons why so few crime victims receive reparations. One reason is that many offenders are not caught or identified. Even if an offender is caught, they may not be able to pay reparations. This is especially true for property crimes, where the value of the stolen property may be less than the cost of restitution. Another reason why so few crime victims receive reparations is that many victims do not apply for it. Victims may not know that they are eligible for reparations, or they may not want to go through the process of applying. The application process can be complex and time-consuming, and there is no guarantee that the victim will be awarded reparations. Finally, some jurisdictions simply do not have programs in place to provide reparations to crime victims. This is often the case in rural areas or in jurisdictions with limited resources. Despite the challenges, there are a number of things that can be done to increase the number of crime victims who receive reparations. One important step is to make sure that victims are aware of their rights and that they know how to apply for reparations. Another important step is to provide funding for programs that provide reparations to crime victims. With these steps, we can help to ensure that crime victims are compensated for their losses and that they have a chance to rebuild their lives.
BARD is Asked: How Many Crime Victims Get Restitution?
According to the National Crime Victimization Survey, about 1 in 10 victims of theft receive restitution. This means that about 90% of victims do not receive any financial compensation for their losses. There are a number of reasons why victims may not receive restitution, including:The offender is not caught or identified. The offender is unable to pay restitution. The victim does not apply for restitution. The victim is not aware that they are eligible for restitution. There are a number of things that victims can do to increase their chances of receiving restitution, including: Reporting the crime to the police. Cooperating with the police investigation. Identifying the offender. Applying for restitution through the court system. Contacting a victim assistance program for help. It is important to note that restitution is not always a guarantee. Even if a victim is eligible for restitution, there is no guarantee that the offender will be able or willing to pay it back. However, restitution can be a valuable resource for victims of theft, and it is important to know that it is an option.
Victim Reparations in The USA
Therefore even when crimes are committed, only 10% of victims get reparations. Furthermore, reparations are possible only when the perpetrator can be identified and has the means to make reparation. Note that the US government represents all the people, equally, the perpetrators, the innocents, as well as the victims. The US government's role is to make laws and administer justice as defined in the Constitution. Therefore, Reparations are always paid by the guilty party or by charitable reparations.
But What If USA Government is the Perpetrator?
The above-referenced article describes Reparations being paid to actual victims. Throughout history, reparations have been common between countries. For example, while Germany paid significant Reparations to other countries for WWII, few victims were benefitted directly.
Japanese internment
The forced internment of 120,000 Japanese-Americans in camps during World War II resulted in about $3.1 billion in property loss and $6.4 billion in income loss, in 2014 dollars. If you account for the possibility that that money might have been invested and gotten above-inflation returns, the economic losses are even larger.Congress made two attempts at reparations, the Japanese-American Claims Act of 1948and the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. Between 1948 and 1965, the former authorized payments totaling $38 million (which comes to somewhere between $286 to $374 million in 2014 dollars), which didn't come close to matching the economic loss. The latter offered survivors $20,000 each in reparations. By 1998, 80,000 survivors had collected their share, for a total payout of $1.6 billion (between $2.3 billion and $3.2 billion today). There is no accounting by which either measure adequately repaid internees for their economic losses, let alone compensated for pain and suffering.
Forced sterilization
Most American states practiced one or another form of eugenics during the 20th century, with forced sterilizations of "unfit" people being a prime instrument. The targets were largely but by no means entirely mentally or developmentally disabled; poor black women on welfare were especially likely to be victimized in this manner. The Supreme Court gave the practice a green light with 1927's Buck v. Bell, and eventually 33 states adopted the practice, forcibly sterilizing about 65,000 people total through the 1970s. Oregon forcibly sterilized people as late as 1981, and its Board of Eugenics (renamed the "Board of Social Protection" in 1967) was only abolished in 1983.Very few states have acknowledged or apologized for these policies, and only one, North Carolina, has set up a reparations program. The state sterilized about 7,600 people, most of whom are no longer living, but last year passed a $10 million reparations program that should give the more than 177 living victims somewhere in the range of $50,000 each. The payments should be made within a few years. Some victims have objected, saying this doesn't come close to remedying the injustice. As one victim, Elaine Riddick Jessie (who was sterilized at age 14 after being raped and giving the resulting son up for adoption), put it, "If I accepted it, what kind of value am I putting on my life?" California, which sterilized by far the largest number of people of any state, has yet to pay out reparations.
Tuskegee experiment
After the end of the Tuskegee experiment — in which 399 black men with syphilis were left untreated to study the progression of the disease between 1932 and 1972 — the government reached a $10 million out of court settlement with the victims and their families in 1974, which included both monetary reparations (in 2014 dollars, $178,000 for men in the study who had syphilis, $72,000 for heirs, $77,000 for those in the control group and $24,000 for heirs of those in the control group) and a promise of lifelong medical treatment for both participants and their immediate families. According to the CDC, 15 descendants are still receiving treatment through the program today.
Rosewood
In 1923, the primarily black town of Rosewood on the Gulf Coast of Florida was destroyed in a race riot that, by official counts, killed at least six black residents and two whites (though some descendants of the town's residents have claimed many more were killed and dumped in mass graves). In 1994, the state of Florida agreed to a reparations package worth around $3.36 million in 2014 dollars, of which $2.4 million today would be set aside to compensate the 11 or so remaining survivors of the incident, $800,000 to compensate those who were forced to flee the town, and $160,000 would go to college scholarships primarily aimed at descendants.
Several trends are clear:
Reparations are given as direct financial payments limited to persons that are proven victims.
The reparation that the perpetrator can afford is never enough for the wrongdoing.
Reparations are rare.
Reparations could take various forms, such as direct financial payments, educational and grants, investments in community programs, or providing access to resources and opportunities. The most appropriate form of reparations would depend on the specific context and goals of the reparations program.
For example, it was not until 1920 that women got the right to vote. African American men got the right to vote in 1870. Are women to get Reparations? Do African American women get bigger Reparations than African American men?
No Reparations for Pre-Existing Conditions
No country allowed women to vote in 1776. The only country to allow women to vote before the USA, in 1920, is Finland in 1906. Great Britain did so in 1928. All countries allowed slavery in 1776. Furthermore, even though the US Constitution stated all men, not women nor African Americans, are born free and equal, the unwinding of the Southern USA's massive investments in slavery was impossible given the universal world support for a slave economy.
The first of 17 articles states: “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights.” In 1803 Denmark-Norway becomes the first country in Europe to ban the African slave trade, forbidding the trading of slaves and ending the importation of slaves into Danish dominions. Brazil, in 1888, became the last nation in the Western Hemisphere to formally abolish slavery. In 1981 Mauritania became the last country in the world to abolish slavery. Britain abolished slavery throughout its empire with the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 (with the notable exception of India), the French colonies re-abolished it in 1848 and the U.S. abolished slavery in 1865 with the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
So even though it took the USA longer to abolish slavery, it did so after the Revolutionary War in a timely manner without subjecting its citizens to the tax expense/debt of reparations to the economically damaged slave owners. However, the social resentment in the Southern States has taken generations to repair. In 1965, the Voting Rights Act a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. Affirmative action has been used in the US for Martin Luther King did not advocate reparations for slavery. All he wanted for the people he represented was equal opportunity, which we now have. "Judge a man by his character, not his skin color". The last 58 years have seen remarkable achievements by African American people. At the same time we have seen the Woke Ideology rise up to segregate the US again; advocating for reparations.
Bill O'Reilly Says
A California committee considering reparations has recommended that each African-American living in the Golden State receive as much as $1.2 million in taxpayer money. That report now goes to the state legislature for "consideration."This continues the extreme leftist view that all working Americans should be punished for the institution of slavery because tax dollars would be used for the payments. This is wrong on every level. First off, Americans today are not responsible for the heinous slave industry. Secondly, almost 700,000 Union soldiers were killed or wounded fighting to end slavery in the Civil War. Are their ancestors entitled to reparations? The British Crown confiscated my family's farm in County Cavan, Ireland, leading to generational suffering. Should I demand payments from London? Almost every family on earth has been victimized in some way. Historically, it has been more difficult for black Americans to succeed economically in America. Fact. But this country has spent trillions over the years in an effort to make amends. No reparations. It is simply unfair. And the California Governor, Gavin Newsom, knows it. He is not likely to back reparations because, someday, he wants to run for president, and the public does not support reparations. See you later for the No Spin News.
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