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 …
News
Eliminating Discriminatory Fines and Fees: Learning from San Franscisco
In New York City, fines and fees provide the city with more than $2 billion in revenue each year. However, many of these fines and fees fall on lower income …
Taking on Traffic Laws: A How-To Guide for Decriminalizing Mobility
Policy, planning, and funding decisions have left primarily Black and low-income communities without safe infrastructure for biking and walking and created conditions forcing people to make choices that cities have …
Debt-Based License Suspensions: Drivers of Poverty and Incarceration
Jurisdictions nationwide suspend driver’s licenses for nonpayment of fines and fees unrelated to traffic safety. The suspensions pose significant challenges for the approximately 11 million Americans affected, particularly those in …
Estimating the Earnings Loss Associated With a Criminal Record and Suspended Driver’s License
Contact with the criminal legal system and sanctions such as driver’s license suspensions can result in limited employment opportunities and have lifelong impacts on a person’s potential earnings. To advance …
Race Representation and Revenue: Reliance on Fines and Forfeitures in City Governments
The Department of Justice’s Ferguson report suggests cities with a higher population of Black people and an overrepresentation of White people in their law enforcement agencies levy fines at higher …
Local Policy Guide: Fee Elimination and Debt Relief
This local policy guide gives local leaders a recommended process for eliminating fees via local legislation, budgetary processes and through the courts.
Local Policy Guide: Make Jail Phone Calls Free and Eliminate Commissions and Kickbacks on Commissary Items
This local policy guide gives local leaders three reform pathways for ensuring incarcerated people have access to basic needs and free communication.
The Hidden Costs of Pretrial Detention Revisited
Using data from over 1 million people booked into a jail in Kentucky between 2009 and 2018, this study investigates the relationship between pretrial detention and failure to appear, rearrest, …
Civil Assessments: The Hidden Court Fee That Penalizes Poverty
California allows courts to charge a civil assessment fee of up to $300 to people who miss a deadline to pay or appear in court. An estimated 300,000 people receive …