What is the test for restitution under section 1202.4 of the California Criminal Code when a defendant is convicted of a sexual assault?

Under section 1202.4, subdivision (a)(1), a crime victim "who incurs any economic loss as a result of the commission of a crime shall receive restitution directly from any defendant convicted of that crime." Subdivision (f) clarifies the necessity for a causal relationship between the defendant's crime and the victim's loss by stating restitution shall be required "in every case in which a victim has suffered economic loss as a result of the defendant's conduct . . . ." "Courts have interpreted section 1202.4 as limiting restitution awards to those losses arising out of the criminal activity that formed the basis of the conviction." (People v. Woods, supra, 161 Cal.App.4th at p. 1049.) Although courts have broad discretion to order "restitution as a condition of probation even when the loss was not necessarily caused by the criminal conduct underlying the conviction" (id. at p. 1050), where, as here, prison sentences are imposed, "section 1202.4 limits the scope of victim restitution to losses caused by the criminal conduct for which the defendant sustained the conviction" (ibid.).

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