Over half of imposed monetary sanctions came from court-imposed fees rather than fines.
In a first-of-its-kind report, the Fines and Fees Justice Center looks at the amount of criminal, juvenile, municipal, and traffic fines and fees imposed by courts nationwide and compares those totals to the actual revenue collected for government coffers. Drawing from 24 states for which there was available data, this report examines the widespread use of court-imposed fines and fees to supplement government budgets between fiscal years 2018 and 2022. It finds that, despite a decline in court caseloads, the total amount of fines and fees imposed increased—suggesting that revenue generation, rather than case volume or public safety, is driving imposition practices. The authors argue that this practice imposes heavy financial burdens on individuals involved in the court system, particularly those who cannot afford to pay, with diminishing returns for governments. While the amount of court debt imposed remained high, collections declined significantly, highlighting the financial instability of fines and fees as a revenue stream. The report also examines the widespread use of punitive enforcement mechanisms, such as bench warrants, that are employed when people are predictably unable to pay.
A lack of comprehensive data across many states makes it impossible to get a complete national picture of how states impose and use revenue from fines and fees, further limiting transparency, oversight, and policy evaluation. Yet, what is available shows that the high imposition of fines and fees in the justice system does not produce the results policymakers may be hoping for, either in terms of accountability or revenue. The report concludes with five recommendations for systemic reform.
You can read the full text here.
Key Findings:
- Between 2018 and 2022, nearly $14 billion in fines and fees were imposed in just 24 states.
- Between 2018 and 2022, the number of new court cases dropped by 20 percent, yet the amount of fines and fees imposed increased by 3 percent.
- The collection of court-imposed fines and fees declined by 33 percent from 2018 to 2022.
- 13 states issued over 2.5 million bench warrants, subjecting each of those individuals to arrest and incarceration for failing to pay court debt or appear in court during the same five-year period.
- Governments and courts often fail to collect and report data on the imposition and collection of fines and fees nationwide:
- Twenty-six judicial offices and 25 fiscal offices could not or would not provide the data, either publicly or in response to public records requests.
- Of the offices that did provide data, only 12 judicial offices and 21 fiscal offices provided full data sets.
Recommendations:
- Eliminate all justice system fees, which are simply taxes that exist solely to generate revenue.
- End government dependence on court-imposed fine and fee revenue streams by replacing them with more stable and sustainable funding sources.
- Use bench warrants only to address threats to public safety and never as a tool to collect debt.
- Discharge old, uncollectable court-imposed fines and fees debt.
- Mandate better data collection and transparency practices for court-imposed fines and fees.