Local governments use fines and fees to discourage negative behavior and raise revenue. However, not everyone can afford to pay, leading to uncollected debt and harm to vulnerable communities. In …
Public defense in Louisiana is reliant on unpredictable conviction and user fees for the bulk of its funding. For the fourth year in a row, public defense offices have run …
Monetary sanctions are an increasing form of punishment for criminal offenses that have generated billions of dollars in revenue while also generating massive amounts of penal debt for low-income individuals. …
As the overall incarceration rate has fallen in the United States, the incarceration rate for women has steadily risen in some areas. With the shift to legal financial obligations as …
In Texas, fines are the standard sentence for Class C misdemeanors encompassing most traffic, public order, city code, and other low-level infractions for which jail time is not statutorily permissible …
Public assistance helps over 20 percent of the U.S. population mitigate the effects of poverty. In 2017, state and local governments spent $673 billion on public assistance programs. Many people …
Sentencing people to fines and fees who do not have the ability to pay or must choose between making payments and basic necessities can have detrimental effects on people’s lives …
Using an analysis of criminal court administrative data and in-depth interviews with decision-makers and defendants in Minnesota, the authors find that Native Americans are subject to the largest overall legal …
People in Tennessee’s criminal justice system can accrue a multitude of fines and fees, but the impact depends on their ability to pay them. This report dives deeper into ability …
Before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many individuals were forced to choose between paying fines and fees or their day-to-day needs. As the pandemic further exacerbated economic insecurity, many …