News

The Impact of Fines, Fees, and Forfeitures on Policing

Law enforcement agencies across the nation, like many local and state governments, rely on fines, fees, and forfeitures for funding. The heavy fines, parking citations and unnecessary incarceration that result …

Oklahoma SB 1458

Oklahoma introduced a bill that if passed would eliminate certain executive agency fees. Key Provisions: Eliminates the additional fee charged to any person convicted of an offense punishable by a …

Why We Need to Stop Suspending and Revoking Driver’s Licenses Due to Debt

The Prosperity Now Scorecard rates states on their progress toward racial economic justice in several policy areas. The 2022 policy update includes an assessment of which states have ended the …

Is There a Link Between Criminal Debt and Recidivism in Reentry?

To determine whether legal financial obligations (LFOs) are criminogenic, the author analyzed a multistate data set from the Urban Institute’s Returning Home Studies. The study followed formerly incarcerated men through …

A Continuum of Coercive Costs: A State-Level Analysis of the Imposition and Payment Enforcement of Statutory Fees

In the past 40 years, states have dramatically increased the number of costs and fees to shift the financial burden of the criminal justice system from taxpayers to justice-involved individuals. …

AL HB 200

The Alabama legislature recently introduced a bill that would prohibit driver’s license suspensions for failure to pay a fine, fee, court cost or restitution imposed as a result of a …

Monetary Sanctions and Housing Instability

Legal Financial Obligations (LFOs) can reduce household resources and lead to many forms of housing instability. Homelessness can also lead to entanglements with the criminal legal system, such as fine-only …

Criminalizing Poverty: The Consequences of Court Fees in a Randomized Experiment

Using a randomized controlled trial of court related fee relief for misdemeanor defendants, the authors tested the hypothesis that financial obligations criminalize poverty and later court involvement results from an …

The High Cost of a Fresh Start: A State by State Analysis of Court Debt as a Bar to Record Clearing

A criminal record can make it hard to get a job, support a family, secure housing, vote, and ultimately pay off fines and fees. Despite efforts by states to provide …

Justice-Involved Individuals and the Consumer Financial Marketplace

Contact with the justice system can destabilize people’s financial situation. This report by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau outlines the challenges justice-involved individuals and their families face due to predatory …