Research Archives - Page 28 of 42 - Fines and Fees Justice Center

Fees, Fines and Fairness: How Monetary Charges Drive Inequity in New York City’s Criminal Justice System

The State of New York and its localities impose financial obligations at each stage of involvement with the justice system, from pre-trial to post-incarceration. Failure to pay can lead to …

Proportionate Financial Sanctions: Policy Prescriptions for Judicial Reform

In this report, the Criminal Justice Policy Program (CJPP) at Harvard Law School proposes a framework where courts would impose means-adjusted fines as a proportionate sentence for an offense. The authors assert that by adopting the proposed recommendations, courts can ease or prevent the worst harms that excessive financial sanctions create for poor people without waiting for legislative reforms.

Addicted to Fines: Small towns in much of the country are dangerously dependent on punitive fines and fees

This GOVERNING report presents the findings of a nationwide analysis of several jurisdictions' fine and fee revenue rates and how much of this funding source supports general budgets.

Payment Plans As A Compliance Tool: Best Practices For Florida Courts

his brief describes the various ways in which payment plans are administered inconsistently across Florida’s counties. The author argues that these conflicting procedures breed confusion among people who have court debt, especially those who owe money to courts in different jurisdictions.

Report of the New Jersey Supreme Court Working Group on the Municipal Courts

Between 2017 and 2018, the New Jersey Supreme Court Committee on Municipal Court Operations, Fines, and Fees conducted a review of New Jersey’s municipal court practices. This report provides an overview of historical reform efforts, modern judicial reform efforts, and makes 17 recommendations related to equal access, fairness, and judicial independence.

Can’t Pay, Can’t Vote: A National Survey On The Modern Poll Tax

Felony convictions and court debt have become barriers to restoring voting rights for millions of people living in the U.S. This report provides a history of poll taxes and explains how felony disenfranchisement serves as a barrier perpetuating the same inequality-producing results: African-Americans and poor people lose the right to vote and struggle to regain voting rights at disproportionate rates.

Court-Ordered Community Service: A National Perspective

Community service mandates date back to the late 1960s as an alternative to incarceration for nonviolent crimes. It has since evolved into a component of monetary sanctions or probation rather …

Paid in Full: A Plan to End Money Injustice in New Orleans

The Vera Institute’s “Paid in Full” report outlines a path towards fines and fees reform, summarizing relevant reform litigation and detailing specific steps that the city of New Orleans can take to reduce the harms of pre-trial and conviction fees.

Inherently Unstable: The History and Future of Reliance on Court-Imposed Fees in the State of Texas

In this article, Todd Jermstad argues that relying on court-imposed fines, fees, and costs to fund the court system in Texas is not financially feasible.

Court-Imposed Fines as a Feature of The Homelessness-Incarceration Nexus: A Cross-Sectional Study of the Relationship Between Legal Debt and Duration of Homelessness in Seattle, Washington, USA

Public health practitioners have long linked homelessness and criminal conviction. This is the first study of the effect of legal financial obligations (LFOs) on the duration of homelessness. In a …