Child Support—Notice to Target and Charging Considerations

Care must be taken to ensure that the criminal process is not used to enforce a civil debt. As such, once a case has been filed it should not be dismissed. Nor should pre-trial diversion be considered, except in extraordinary circumstances, merely because an offender makes payment. An additional consideration militating against dismissal or pre-trial diversion once charges have been filed is that the deterrent impact of the potential felonious second offense would be avoided by dismissal or pre-trial diversion of the first offense. Additionally, no notice to the target is required prior to the filing of charges in these cases. Such a practice must be weighed carefully in light of the considerations discussed above.

The determination as to whether to issue a summons or a warrant in CSRA cases should be made on a case-by-case basis by the United States Attorney's Office prosecuting the case. Since these charges will generally involve individuals who have a history of evasion of court processes and flight, a warrant may be appropriate. However, other cases involving obligers who, for instance, have become established members of another community, may only require a summons to appear.