National Archives - Fines and Fees Justice Center

How to Use Budgets to Understand Criminal Justice Fines and Fees

The Vera Institute of Justice published a toolkit to help advocates analyze local budgets to better understand the impact of fines and fees and where reforms are needed. The publication …

Financial Health and Criminal Justice: The Impacts of Involvement

The Financial Health Network surveyed 573 individuals about their own or a household member’s experience with the justice system to better understand the impacts on their financial health. Researchers surveyed …

National Center for Access to Justice Fines and Fees Index

In 2016, the National Center for Access to Justice debuted it’s Justice Index and in May 2020, it was updated for the second time. The Fines and Fees Index, an …

Injustice in the Lowest Courts: How Municipal Courts Rob America’s Youth

In collaboration with the Juvenile Law Center, Columbia Law School’s Community Advocacy Lab examined the constitutions and laws of each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia to …

NCLC Litigation Tracker

The National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) launched a litigation tracker devoted to cataloging recent consumer law cases challenging abuses by bail and corrections industry actors. The tracker is organized into …

Who Must Pay to Regain the Vote? A 50-State Survey (Update)

This report is an updated review of each U.S. state’s voting rights laws as they relate to payment of court fines, fees, and restitution.

Clearing the Path to a New Beginning: A Guide To Discharging Criminal Justice Debt In Bankruptcy

This guide outlines how criminal justice debt may be treated in Chapter 7 or 13 bankruptcy and details the types of fines, fees, and costs that can and cannot be discharged through Bankruptcy.

Court Costs, Fines, And Fees Are Bad Policy- Recommendations For Illinois Legislators

This policy brief discusses the history and issues of court fines and fees nationally and specifically in Illinois.

Who Must Pay to Regain the Vote? A 50-State Survey

This report analyzes state voting laws to show how fines and fees are used to determine if a person can regain the right to vote after getting convicted of a felony.

Driving for Opportunity Act of 2020

The act permits the Attorney General to make grants to states in order to cover the costs of reinstating driver’s licenses previously suspended for unpaid fines and fees. The bill …