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 …
Framing the System of Monetary Sanctions as Predatory: Policies, Practices, and Motivations
This literature review surveys articles published in the University of California, Los Angeles Criminal Justice Law Review that discuss how court fines and fees may be viewed as predatory.
Ankle Monitors Are Replacing Cash Bail, But At A Cost
This article discusses how people who are court-ordered to participate in electronic monitoring bear the burden of the program costs and the risk of being jailed for nonpayment.
Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2019, Featuring Supplemental Data from April 2020
For the first time, the Federal Reserve collected information about how criminal legal debt from fines and fees affects American families.
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.
Fines and Monetary Sanctions
Alexes Harris, the author of this research papers, discusses various criminal legal system fines and fees and argues that imposing these costs can worsen social inequality.
Kansas v. Glover
Kansas v. Glover Issue: Does a police officer violate the Fourth Amendment by conducting an investigatory traffic stop based on an assumption that the driver of a vehicle is the registered …
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.
The Crippling Costs of the Juvenile Justice System: A Legal and Policy Argument for Elimination Fines and Fees for Youth Offenders
Across the country, youth and their families, many in poverty, face monetary charges for their involvement in the juvenile justice system, and the consequences can be devastating. In this article, …
If We Only Knew the Cost: Scratching the Surface on How Much it Costs to Assess and Collect Court Imposed Criminal Fines and Fees
This report investigates the amount of time and resources the court system spends to assess and collect criminal fines and fees.