Part 6 – Trapped by Design: How Court Debt Devastates Lives

This is the final blog in our six-part series on how advocates can turn data into action. If you missed earlier entries on the scope of court debt, who it affects, and why it persists, you can catch up here. 

There’s a hidden side to our justice system — one that punishes people not for what they did, but for what they don’t have. Across the country, states are using their courts to squeeze revenue from the people least able to provide it. This isn’t a glitch in the system. It’s a feature — a deliberate choice to treat courts like collection agencies, especially in Black and brown communities. 

Research has shown that areas with higher concentrations of people of color are assessed fines and fees at higher rates than predominantly white areas. And the result? A cascade of economic, legal, and social consequences that can derail someone’s life.

These harms don’t fall evenly. They land hardest on people already living paycheck to paycheck. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Advocates can challenge the use of the legal system as a revenue stream — and demand fairer, more equitable alternatives.

Imposing Instability revealed how courts across the country continue to impose fines and fees not because it’s just, but because it’s lucrative, or at least it’s believed to be. Prioritizing revenue over justice creates instability in the lives of people who are already stretched thin. Courts won’t stop treating people like a revenue stream unless advocates and policymakers take action. 

Debt that Derails Lives

Imagine a single mom in rural Alabama. She gets a speeding ticket on her way to a night shift. She can’t pay it all at once, so she waits until she can save up the money. After 90 days, the courts add a 30% collection fee, pushing the fine out of reach. Her license is suspended. And without accessible public transit, she keeps driving to survive. She’s pulled over again — this time facing criminal charges for driving without a license. Now she’s juggling court dates, mounting debt, and the fear of losing her job for missing another shift. That’s how fast it happens. 

And it’s not just Alabama. In Utah, unpaid court debt that’s 90 days old is transferred to the Office of State Debt Collection (OSDC). Once there, the state tacks on a 6% penalty, 15.5% collection fee, and 10.5% interest, each year. A $400 fine becomes nearly $575 within a year. These aren’t private collectors. It’s the state doing the collecting — and profiting from penalties and fees.

These debts show up in real life through missed doctor’s appointments, skipped meals, and lights being shut off. A national survey found that 61% of people who owed fines and fees experienced at least one essential hardship — in housing, food, employment, healthcare, childcare, or transportation. When courts treat treat families struggling to meet ends meet as a reason to impose more punishment, they entrench instability instead of promoting accountability.

This Isn’t About Safety — It’s About Money

Many of the harshest penalties in the justice system — bench warrants, driver’s license suspensions, wage garnishments — aren’t about protecting the public. They’re about collecting money. In many states, a person can lose their driver’s license simply for being unable to pay court fines or fees or missing a hearing related to their debt. And even after the debt is paid, the punishment often continues: almost every state charges a reinstatement fee, which can range from $5 to $500, just to restore a suspended license. These fees are imposed regardless of a person’s income or circumstances — making it harder for them to regain their license, work, care for their families, or meet basic needs. Imposing Instability lists 30 common penalties that can follow when someone does not have the ability to pay, though many more exist. These additional burdens have nothing to do with public safety and everything to do with revenue.

From Harm to Change: What Advocates Can Do

Step 1: Conduct a local review.  

Every state handles court debt differently, so understanding your jurisdiction’s approach – both in law and in practice – is critical. Does your court charge collection fees or interest on court debt? Is it based on established legal authority, or did they decide to do it on their own? Is it outsourcing collections to private firms or using a state agency? What percentage of bench warrants stem from unpaid fines or fees?

Use public records requests to gather data on local court practices, including collection contracts and enforcement methods. Talk to public defenders or legal aid attorneys in your jurisdiction to learn how it really plays out for their clients in court. Quantifying and reporting on the harm makes it harder for officials to ignore — and easier for advocates to drive reform. 

Step 2: Tackle the harms head-on. 

Once you better understand the specific harms in your community, you can take steps to address them. This can look like pushing to end debt-based driver’s license suspensions, like many states have across the country.  One of the most impactful strategies is pushing for the outright elimination of fees that exist only to generate revenue. Where there is no path to wholesale reform, you can call for the elimination of collection fees and compounding interest, which disproportionately punish people with low incomes while boosting state revenue. Demand that states stop outsourcing collections to aggressive agencies that add unnecessary fees and challenge the use of bench warrants as a debt enforcement tool.

To learn more and join the national effort to end debt-based license suspensions, visit FreeToDrive.org and explore tools, stories, and ways to take action in your state.

Alternatives to monetary sanctions, such as community service in lieu of imposing fines or fees, can also reduce harm and promote accountability. Adopt broad notions of community service – accepting a wide array of activities, including education, substance abuse treatment, financial literacy classes, workplace development activities, and other prosocial activities, beyond traditional volunteer work or public labor. Such community service can then be given a fair-value conversion rate toward unpaid debt in lieu of payments. Jurisdictions can institute ability-to-pay procedures and reasonable payment plan programs to ensure court-ordered payments are not unachievable. They can also create pathways for discharging old debt, especially for those with long-term financial hardship. Many courts already have statutory authority to use these alternatives, but don’t consistently apply them, making local advocacy critical to ensure they are implemented fairly and widely.

This system isn’t broken — it’s working exactly as originally designed. But design can be changed. Advocates like you have already made strides to end license suspensions, eliminate collection fees, and push courts to use fairer practices. This work requires local pressure. Courtrooms won’t change on their own, and legislators won’t often act without a push. You can be that push. Whether you organize a town hall, meet with your state rep, or publish a local op-ed, you have power. The system only shifts when we do.

Communities That Have Taken Action

• New Mexico: The state enacted SB 47, which eliminates driver’s license suspensions on the basis of both failure to pay fines and fees and failure to appear in court, and provides for automatic reinstatement of suspended licenses.
• Ohio (2024): The state enacted HB 29 into law, which eliminates driver’s license suspensions for failure to pay court fines and fees, and suspensions imposed for debt-related reasons before the law’s effective date will be lifted automatically. Individuals whose licenses are reinstated due to this law will not be charged a reinstatement fee. 
• Nevada (2025): The state passed SB 120 into law, which not only eliminates the application fee for indigent representation but also prevents courts from imposing interest or collection fees on individuals who enter into a payment plan.
• Oregon (2021): Governor Kate Brown discharged $1.8 million in outstanding traffic debt.
• Delaware (2024): The state enacted SB 282 into law, which eliminated old debts from fees (costs in juvenile delinquency proceedings, public defender fee, and the probation supervision fee) already eliminated by 2022’s HB 244.

This blog series has traced how fines and fees distort the justice system, shifting its focus from fairness to revenue generation. We’ve seen how these financial penalties disproportionately impact people with low incomes, deepen racial and economic inequities, and destabilize families and communities. But we’ve also highlighted the growing movement to fight back — from local advocacy campaigns to statewide reforms.

Change is not only possible; it’s already happening. With the right tools, data, and collective pressure, advocates can push for a justice system that’s rooted in equity, not exploitation. To explore reform efforts happening nationwide, visit the End Justice Fees campaign website.