Debt Sentence: How Fines And Fees Hurt Working Families
This report shares the results of a national survey of over 5,600 adults to see how court-imposed fines and fees affect people across the country.
United States Department of Justice “Dear Colleague” Letter (revised and updated)
On April 20, 2023 the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, Office of Justice Programs, and Office for Access to Justice revised the 2016 Dear Colleague to include an updated discussion …
Arrested Mobility: Barriers To Walking, Biking, And E-Scooter Use In Black Communities In The United States
Inequitable infrastructure investment has created mobility obstacles and racially discriminatory policing in transportation for Black Americans and people of color. Although more than half of the nation’s most dangerous streets …
New Mexico HB 139: Eliminating Court Fees
The New Mexico Legislature approved a bill eliminating post-adjudication and bench warrant fees. The legislation also expands the definition of community service to encourage participation in job training, academic or …
New Mexico SB 47: Driver’s License Suspension Penalties
The New Mexico legislature passed a bill eliminating suspensions for failure to pay and failure to appear. The bill also requires the automatic reinstatement of licenses suspended solely for failure …
Roberts Webb et al. v. City of Maplewood
On March 6, 2023, a federal judge approved a $3.25 million settlement in this class-action lawsuit brought against the City of Maplewood, Missouri. The suit alleged that the City regularly …
SMH: The Rapid & Unregulated Growth of E‑messaging in Prisons
Text-based electronic messaging or “e-massaging,” not to be confused with emailing, has exploded in the past decade. At least 43 state prison systems and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) …
Punishing the Poor: An Assessment of the Administration of Fines and Fees in New Mexico Misdemeanor Courts
Low-income people in New Mexico accused of minor crimes are often caught in a vicious cycle where they are jailed because they can’t afford to pay monetary sanctions. In 2018, …
State Strategies to Address the Needs of Justice-Involved Youth Impacted by Collateral Consequences
Collateral consequences refers to the adverse effects resulting from an interaction with the justice system. Even youth with the lowest level of engagement with the system face collateral consequences that …
Report to the Legislature: Online Infraction Adjudication and Ability-to-Pay Determinations
This report uses data from California courts that have adopted the MyCitations tool to evaluate the pilot program. As of January 1, 2023, over 66,000 ability-to-pay requests were submitted through …