Privatized probation agencies profit from nonpayment, exacerbating debt cycles.
Increasingly, jurisdictions have elevated their dependence on the offender-funded justice model, in which legal financial obligations (LFOs) have become prevalent. Regardless of their intended function, in the criminal justice system, the adverse effects of LFOs are apparent through the many collateral consequences individuals may face due to nonpayment. This report draws on the Community Corrections Fines and Fees Study findings, which examined probation and parole systems across seven U.S. states. This report evaluates how financial penalties impact people on community supervision and offers policy and practice reforms aimed at reducing their harm. The authors argue that while some LFOs may serve punitive functions, fees and costs serve primarily to generate revenue. This model shifts the cost of criminal legal system operations onto individuals who are often least able to pay, disproportionately impacting low-income communities and reinforcing cycles of debt and incarceration. The report offers concrete recommendations for policymakers to reduce reliance on financial sanctions and for community supervision agencies to move away from punitive responses to nonpayment. Instead, they call for systems that assess individuals’ ability to pay, eliminate counterproductive penalties for poverty, and prioritize rehabilitation over revenue collection.
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Key Findings:
- LFO debt leads to long-term consequences like license suspension, credit damage, and reincarceration.
- LFOs often serve as revenue-generating tools, not just punishments.
Recommendations:
- Reduce reliance on offender-funded models by increasing public investment in community corrections to eliminate the need for revenue-generating LFOs.
- Reassess and revise statutes that require automatic imposition of fines and fees, especially those that disproportionately impact low-income defendants.
- Adopt proportional, income-based LFO policies or allow courts to waive or reduce LFOs for people who are indigent.
- Prohibit incarceration or supervision extensions for nonpayment.
- Identify ways to make supervision less costly and pass those savings to the supervised population.