Research Archives - Page 5 of 47 - Fines and Fees Justice Center

Ability to Pay: Closing the Access to Justice Gap with Policy Solutions for Unaffordable Fines and Fees

Financial circumstances heavily influence an individual’s access to justice, especially when it comes to the fines and fees imposed by the justice system. These costs contribute to a two-tiered justice …

How Fines and Fees Impact Family Well-Being

Fines and fees, imposed at every level of the criminal legal system, significantly affect the well-being of families. Using data from the Urban Institute’s 2023 Well-Being and Basic Needs Survey, …

The Jefferson County Equitable Fines and Fees Project: Preliminary Findings on Fairness and Efficacy

Local governments impose legal financial obligations (LFOs) on individuals convicted of traffic violations, misdemeanors, and felonies. The Jefferson County Equitable Fines and Fees (JEFF) Project studied over 8,000 felony and …

Health, Access to Care, and Financial Barriers to Care Among People Incarcerated in US Prisons

Prison residents often come from communities with high poverty and poor health. More than 60 percent of prison residents in the United States have a chronic physical condition and more …

The Long-Term Impact of Debt Relief For Indigent Defendants in a Misdemeanor Court

A follow-up study to Criminalizing Poverty: The Consequences of Court Fees in a Randomized Experiment, confirms what many have long argued—court fines and fees do not deter crime. Instead, they …

In the Rearview Mirror: St. Louis’s Municipal Courts After a Decade of Reform and Regress

Ten years ago, the death of Michael Brown ignited the Ferguson Uprising, bringing to light systemic injustices in municipal courts across St. Louis County. In the wake of this tragedy, …

Reframing The Debate on Legal Financial Obligations and Crime: How Accruing Monetary Sanctions Impacts Recidivism

As the use of legal financial obligations (LFOs) continues to grow, researchers have identified a need to better understand the long-term impacts on justice-involved individuals. Using data on monetary sanctions, …

A National Study on the Effect of Supervision Fees on Probation Agency Operations Technical Report

Monetary sanctions are widely scrutinized across the United States, but community supervision fees remain underexplored. To fill this gap, the Utah Criminal Justice Center (UCJC) collaborated with the National Institute …

Hidden Price of Justice: Fines and Fees in DC’s Criminal Legal System

The use of criminal legal fines and fees to to fill state and local budgetary gaps has deep roots in a history of anti-Black racism. That history is evident in …

Eliminate justice-related fees and invest in Oklahoma’s justice system

Oklahoma’s reliance on court-imposed fines and fees as a funding mechanism for its criminal justice system disproportionately harms justice-involved individuals, especially those with low incomes. This approach places a significant …