COVID-19 Crisis: Advocacy Materials
FFJC is compiling advocacy materials for organizations and community members across America who are working toward fines and fees policy changes in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Below, you can …
Municipal Fines and Fees: A 50-State Survey of State Laws
This report, including an interactive map, provides a 50-state analysis of state laws that regulate municipal imposition and collection of fines and fees. The analysis is based on 52 factors, organized into 7 broad categories, that measure the extent to which state laws “prohibit, sustain, encourage or neutralize” municipal reliance on fines and fees.
The Explosion of Unpaid Criminal Fines and Fees in North Carolina
The amount of debt owed to North Carolina’s criminal courts has increased at a staggering rate. This report gives a scope of how much debt is uncollectible, identifies the people in the state most harmed by the current system, and pinpoints the case types that yield the lion’s share of this debt.
Ethical Obligations of Judges in Collecting Legal Financial Obligations and Other Debts
This opinion from the American Bar Association addresses the obligations judges have to assess ability to pay when collecting fines and fees.
In Trouble: How the Promise of Diversion Clashes With The Reality of Poverty, Addiction, And Structural Racism In Alabama’s Justice System
This Alabama Appleseed report stems from a survey of 1,011 justice-involved Alabamians. The author provides recommendations for lawmakers, programs, and courts to follow to improve the effectiveness and fairness of diversion.
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.
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.
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.
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.