Can’t Win For Losing – How Institutions and Policies Keep Arkansans in Debt
This report presents the findings from an Arkansas Community Institute survey concerning the household debt of Pulaski and Jefferson county residents.
Monetary Sanctions: Legal Financial Obligations in US Systems of Justice
This review provides a historical background of court fines and fees and shows how these costs affect people present day.
Special Report: How a legal system dependent on fines, fees affects Oklahomans
This five-part series uses personal accounts from Oklahomans to show how fines and fees negatively affect people who cannot afford them.
Paying for Jail: How County Jails Extract Wealth from New York Communities
This report examines the burdensome costs of phone calls, commissary, and disciplinary tickets assessed by New York jails, specifically those outside of New York City.
Driving on Empty: Florida’s Counterproductive and Costly Driver’s License Suspension Practices
Driving on Empty shows how driver’s license suspension for nonpayment in Florida detracts from public safety, and outlines the racial and economic disparities perpetuated by this practice.
Taxation by Citation? Exploring Local Governments’ Revenue Motive for Traffic Fines
In 1977 California counties received 74 percent of their own-source general funds from property tax, but after Proposition 13, counties’ property tax decreased by over 50 percent. Since the passage …
The Steep Costs of Criminal Justice Fees and Fines, A Fiscal Analysis of Three States and Ten Counties
This Brennan Center research report analyzes the numerous disadvantages of the current criminal justice fine and fee systems of ten counties in Texas, Florida, and New Mexico.
Costs of Injustice: How Criminal System Fees Are Hurting Los Angeles County Families
This report shares the life experiences of Los Angeles County residents to illustrate how criminal justice fines and fees assessed by the County can be overly burdensome and punitive.
Work, Pay, or Go to Jail: Court-Ordered Community Service In Los Angeles
This report provides the findings from the first in-depth study of a large-scale court-ordered community service system in modern-day America. The authors examined the experiences of about 5,000 people who were ordered to perform community service by the Los Angeles Superior Court between 2013 and 2014.
The Price of Taxation By Citation: Case Studies of Three Georgia Cities The Rely Heavily on Fines and Fees
The concept of taxation by citation and its subsequent harms are dissected and analyzed in this Institute for Justice report. Through the profiling of three Georgia cities–Morrow, Riverdale, and Clarkston–the authors use traffic and ordinance violation data to suggest that these towns’ use of code enforcement power is geared towards revenue generation rather than public safety.