News

Complaint against Judge Wiggins, No. 45 Alabama Fourth Judicial Circuit (Jan. 2016)

On September 17, 2015, Circuit Judge Wiggins from Perry County Alabama threatened defendants who appeared before him for a previously scheduled “pay-due” docket. He informed them, “If you do not have any money and you do not want to go to jail…you can give blood today…bring in a receipt indicating that you gave blood…”

People v. Hakes

Hakes could not afford to make any payments. Probation was revoked because he was unable to pay. Hakes filed a complaint stating payment for the bracelet is punitive and does not promote public safety.

Colorado HB 16-1311: Concerning court orders requiring payments of monetary amounts

Current law establishes procedures for when a sentence includes the payment of a monetary amount. This bill clarifies that the procedures also apply whenever a court enters a judgment or issues an order obligating a defendant to pay an amount to the court.

Colorado HB 16-1309: Concerning a defendant’s right to counsel in certain cases considered by municipal courts

This bill requires the Municipal Court to appoint counsel in certain circumstances, including if a defendant is in custody or faces the possibility of custody for nonpayment of fines and fees.

The Ohio Model for Combatting Debtors’ Prisons

This article summarizes the research, advocacy, and communications tools the ACLU of Ohio used to successfully combat debtors’ prisons and provides guidance on how to execute similar strategies in other states.

The Growing and Broad Nature of Legal Financial Obligations: Evidence from Court Records in Alabama

This report provides granular data on the imposition and payment of fines and fees in Alabama. The authors gathered and analyzed 200,000 court records over the last two decades to provide a comprehensive picture of the assessments of fines and fees across the state.

Why Motive Matters: Designing Effective Policy Responses to Modern Debtors’ Prisons

In this essay, Marsh and Gerrick challenge the most common justification for why debtors’ prisons still exist in present-day America: generating revenue to fund local government and courts. The authors argue that revenue generation is an “incomplete explanation” for debtor’s prisons and point to a variety of other factors that could help complete the picture.

In every state, youth and families face juvenile fines and fees that can spark cycles of debt and incarceration: a debtors' prison for kids.

Debtors’ Prison for Kids? The High Cost of Fines and Fees in the Juvenile Justice System

This report documents how and when youth and families face fines, fees and restitution and the economic and legal consequences for failure to pay.

Sharecropper Finance: Using the Justice System as a Public Revenue Source

This article compares the fines and fees practices of Ferguson, Missouri and other municipal governments with the older economic technique of sharecropping.

Nickel and Dimed into Incarceration: Cash-Register Justice in the Criminal System

The article provides an overview of criminal justice fines and fees; applies the Sixth Amendment jury trial right to these fines and fees; considers the question of “when criminal justice debt rises to the level of punishment; and suggests several solutions to the problem.