Debt Sentence: How Fines And Fees Hurt Working Families
This report shares the results of a national survey of over 5,600 adults to see how court-imposed fines and fees affect people across the country.
United States Department of Justice “Dear Colleague” Letter (revised and updated)
On April 20, 2023 the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, Office of Justice Programs, and Office for Access to Justice revised the 2016 Dear Colleague to include an updated discussion …
How Fines and Fees Impact Families: Can Policies like the Child Tax Credit Help?
Low-income families burdened by court-imposed financial penalties often turn to high cost predatory services or forgo basic needs to avoid further legal consequences for nonpayment. In 2021, the Child Tax …
Arrested Mobility: Barriers To Walking, Biking, And E-Scooter Use In Black Communities In The United States
Inequitable infrastructure investment has created mobility obstacles and racially discriminatory policing in transportation for Black Americans and people of color. Although more than half of the nation’s most dangerous streets …
SMH: The Rapid & Unregulated Growth of E‑messaging in Prisons
Text-based electronic messaging or “e-massaging,” not to be confused with emailing, has exploded in the past decade. At least 43 state prison systems and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) …
State Strategies to Address the Needs of Justice-Involved Youth Impacted by Collateral Consequences
Collateral consequences refers to the adverse effects resulting from an interaction with the justice system. Even youth with the lowest level of engagement with the system face collateral consequences that …
Police Killings and Municipal Reliance on Fine-and-Fee Revenue
Between 2016 and 2021, more than 400 unarmed people were killed by police during traffic stops. In addition, metropolitan areas that rely more on revenue from fines and fees experience …
Fines and Fees: Consequences and Opportunities for Reform
The utilization of fines and fees in the criminal legal system for revenue generation raises substantial questions regarding equity and may create perverse incentives for government entities dependent on the …
Local Governments Collected $9 Billion in Fines And Fees in 2020
The use of fines and fees to generate revenue can be exploitative and a conflict of interest when relied on as an essential source of revenue. Using data from the …
Council on Policing Reforms and Race: Council Findings and Recommendations
The Council on Policing Reforms and Race released more than fifty recommendations to address policing and public safety. The Council is an independent, non-partisan initiative formed by the National Policing …