On Cash and Conviction: Monetary Sanctions as Misguided Policy

Legal financial obligations (LFO) used to supplement rather than replace other punishments, have resulted in legal debt for millions of mainly poor residents. In this paper, the authors argue that the disadvantages of the widespread and discretionary imposition of LFOs outweigh any benefits and should be abolished. Specifically, the authors find no convincing penological rationale for the imposition of monetary sanctions, and that dependence on LFOs to subsidize the cost of government operations creates conflicts of interest for judges and court actors, while significantly burdening millions of poor people already burdened with a criminal conviction.

Read the full paper here.