Kentucky Supreme Court Order 2017-07: Sliding scale of indigency
This court rule establishes a “sliding scale of indigency” and advises judges to reduce or waive fees that would pose an undue burden on defendants.
Phoenix Municipal Court’s Compliance Assistance Program
This report analyzes the first nine months of the Phoenix Municipal Court’s driver’s license reinstatement pilot - the Compliance Assistance Program (CAP) - and calculates the economic impacts of both the suspension and reinstatement of driver’s licenses on individuals and the Phoenix community, including wages and GDP.
California AB 103 – Public Safety Omnibus (Budget Trailer Bill – Ends Driver’s License Suspension for Unpaid Fines and Fees)
California’s 2017 omnibus budget bill included a provision that ends the practice of suspending driver’s licenses for failure to pay fines and fees.
Texas SB 1913: Relating to the administrative, civil, and criminal consequences, including fines, fees, and costs, imposed on persons arrested for, charged with, or convicted of certain criminal offenses.
This bill aims to improve the fairness of the Texas criminal justice system’s response to defendants’ inability to pay fines and fees in criminal cases, particularly in traffic and city ordinance violations.
NJ S 3307: An act revising procedures for expunging criminal and other records and information […]
Starting October 1, 2018, New Jersey residents with outstanding criminal debt can apply to have their criminal record expunged. Previously, state law required all debt to be paid before an expungement could be obtained.
San Francisco Fines & Fees Task Force: Initial Findings and Recommendations
In late 2016, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors directed the Office of the Treasurer and Tax Collector to create a Fines and Fees Task Force (staffed by the Treasurer’s Financial Justice Project) to study the impact of fines and fees on San Franciscans & propose relevant reforms. About six months later, the Task Force published this initial report in order to provide an overview of fines and fees in San Francisco as well as an array of reform recommendations.
Criminal Justice Debt Reform Builder
The Criminal Justice Debt Reform Builder is an online tool that allows users to quickly explore and assess fines and fees reform statutes in all 50 states.
Monetary Sanctions in the Criminal Justice System
This review of law and policy is the first-year report of a five-year study comprising quantitative and qualitative research that provides a detailed understanding of how fines and fees are imposed and enforced across the United States.
Mississippi Department of Public Safety declines to enforce statute that permits driver’s license suspension for failure to pay fines and fees
The Mississippi Department of Public Safety made a number of discretionary changes regarding driver’s license suspensions for unpaid fines and fees -- they stopped suspending licenses for nonpayment, restored licenses, and waived the $100 reinstatement fee for those drivers.
Making Families Pay: The Harmful, Unlawful, and Costly Practice of Charging Juvenile Administrative Fees in California
This report from the Berkeley Policy Advocacy Clinic details California counties’ practice of assessing and collecting fees from families with youth in the California juvenile justice system. California abolished juvenile fees in 2018.