Restitution amounts are not presumed; they must be supported by evidence quantifying the victim's actual losses — medical expenses, lost income, property damage, counseling costs, and other documented out-of-pocket harm. Victim impact statements and supporting records serve as the evidentiary basis courts rely on to set a specific restitution figure rather than an estimated or nominal one.

Because restitution is compensatory rather than punitive in most frameworks, courts generally require the loss amounts to be reasonably certain and causally connected to the criminal conduct, not speculative future harm. This creates a close parallel to civil damages proof, even though the proceeding occurs within a criminal case.

In a Juricratic simulation of a case with a parallel restitution component, victim impact evidence populates the same damages-model inputs used for civil recovery analysis, letting the underlying loss documentation inform both the criminal restitution figure and any separate civil claim's damages dial consistently.

Victims' advocates and prosecutors compile documented losses — bills, pay stubs, repair estimates, treatment records — into a restitution package, since courts require reasonably certain, non-speculative loss evidence before setting a restitution amount.