There are more than 1,000 statutory provisions in Kentucky statutes that impose fines or fees related to the criminal legal system.
Kentucky’s criminal legal system is made up of a complicated network of fines and fees that can be difficult to navigate and lead to devastating consequences for Kentuckians who are unable to pay them. This report provides a comprehensive overview of the fines and fees imposed on individuals involved with Kentucky’s criminal legal system. The authors conducted a statutory review and analyzed data from public records requests to examine the scale, variety, and consequences of monetary sanctions across the state. They also conducted a review of fees imposed on those incarcerated in county jails and the Department of Corrections (DOC). The report highlights the structural complexity and lack of transparency in the assessment and enforcement of these financial obligations, some mandatory and others varying by jurisdiction or jail. Kentucky lacks a centralized system to track and monitor legal financial obligations, making it challenging to determine the amount owed, the amount collected, and how nonpayment is addressed. The report concludes with a set of policy recommendations aimed at increasing transparency, limiting the imposition of financial penalties, and reducing the harms of nonpayment.
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Key Findings:
- Between 2022 and 2024, a $100 court cost fee for every resolved case generated nearly $60 million in revenue, with 49 percent of the revenue distributed to the state’s General Fund.
- Revenue from the general court costs is divided ten ways, including several unrelated programs and services.
- The Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) reported at least $91.4 million in unpaid court debt in Kentucky as of Jan. 31, 2019.
- There is no statewide database to track the assessment or collection of fines and fees from the criminal legal system.
- Fees imposed by county jails vary widely, resulting in inconsistent costs and enforcement; the fee for booking and admissions ranges from $20 to $130 in the state.
Recommendations:
- Establish a statewide uniform ability to pay determination process to implement before individuals are imposed with legal financial obligations.
- Eliminate jailing individuals for unpaid court debt.
- Provide individuals leaving incarceration with grace periods before they are required to start making payments on their fines and fees.
- Create a statute of limitations for debt from the criminal legal system that’s comparable to the civil debt statute of limitations.
- Shift away from using jail fee revenue to offset counties’ incarceration costs until jail fee elimination is enacted.
- Require the AOC to collect and report on fine and fee data.