North Carolina Court Appearance Project
In North Carolina, nonappearance for a court case can lead to driver’s license suspension, an order for arrest, and jail time. Nearly 250,000 court appearances are missed annually in North …
Spiraling Criminal Debt
North Carolina in recent decades moved to a user- fee model allowing courts to impose any number of fines and fees when a criminal case is resolved through a plea …
Johnson v. Goodwin
Johnson v. Goodwin (Formerly Johnson v. Jessup) Case No. 1:18-cv-00467 (M.D. N.C. 2022) On March 3, 2022, a federal court accepted a settlement in this class action lawsuit brought against the …
Resolve Traffic Debt: Advocate Toolkit
North Carolina automatically suspends a person’s driver’s license for failure to pay court fees or fines for a motor vehicle offense. Approximately 300,000 North Carolinians have long-term driver’s license suspensions …
2021 Driving Injustice: Consequences and Disparities in North Carolina Legal and Traffic Debt
An increase in fines, fees, and license suspension for traffic tickets, infractions, and misdemeanors has created a vicious cycle of court debt. People who do not pay their debt within …
The Price of Poverty in North Carolina’s Juvenile Justice System
To better understand the role of poverty in shaping outcomes in North Carolina’s juvenile justice system, the authors conducted interviews and surveyed attorneys, social workers, scholars and youth advocates. This …
Community Success Initiative, et al. v. Moore, et al.
In North Carolina, roughly 70,000 individuals are prohibited from voting because they have a prior felony conviction, and in many cases individuals are disenfranchised solely because of their inability to …
Fines, Fees, Forfeitures, and Disparities: A Link Between Municipal Reliance on Fines and Racial Disparities in Policing
This research paper explores the relationship between a municipality's reliance on fines and fees and police behavior during traffic stops.
Pandemic lays bare North Carolina’s reliance on fines and fees
This report discusses the growth of fee revenue in North Carolina and how the pandemic has exposed pre-existing issues concerning the use of fine and fee revenue.
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.