Welcome to FFJC’s digital library of resources related to fines and fees, also known as the Clearinghouse. Our repository of research and tools is curated and summarized by our Policy and Research team and includes key fines and fees research, litigation, legislation, policy analysis and guidance, and case studies. Use the search features below to find the information you need to drive reform.

E.g., ‘impacts of fines and fees’
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Debt Sentence: How Fines And Fees Hurt Working Families

This report shares the results of a national survey of over 5,600 adults to see how court-imposed fines and fees affect people across the country.

Debt Sentence: How Fines And Fees Hurt Working Families

Hidden Price of Justice: Fines and Fees in DC’s Criminal Legal System
Hidden Price of Justice: Fines and Fees in DC’s Criminal Legal System

The use of criminal legal fines and fees to to fill state and local budgetary gaps has deep roots in a history of anti-Black racism. That history is evident in Washington, DC where…
Research / District of Columbia / June 25, 2024
Michael Johnson Jr.

Locked Out: How DC Bans Workers with Unpaid Fines from More than 125 Jobs or Starting a Business, and What We Can Do About It
Locked Out: How DC Bans Workers with Unpaid Fines from More than 125 Jobs or Starting a Business, and What We Can Do About It

Under DC’s Clean Hands Law, residents can be automatically denied occupational and small business licenses if they owe the District more than $100 in unpaid fines, fees or taxes. T…
Research & Data, Tools / District of Columbia / December 12, 2023

Parham v. D.C.
Parham v. D.C.

Issue Starting in October of 2023, the District of Columbia will stop denying residents the ability to renew their driver’s license if they have outstanding debt to the city, inclu…
Cases / District of Columbia / December 27, 2022

D.C. parking, traffic tickets snowball into financial hardships
D.C. parking, traffic tickets snowball into financial hardships

The Washington Post analyzed patterns of moving violations from red light cameras, parking tickets and police stops between 2016 and 2021 in the District of Columbia. The article h…
Media Coverage / District of Columbia / August 06, 2021
John D. Harden

Driving DC to Opportunity: Wealth Should Not Determine Who Gets to Keep Their Driver’s License
Driving DC to Opportunity: Wealth Should Not Determine Who Gets to Keep Their Driver’s License

DC’s Clean Hands Law restricts driver’s license privileges for court debt above $100. This report shows how this law punishes poverty, exacerbates inequalities, negatively impacts…
Research & Data / District of Columbia / April 01, 2021
Joshua M. Levin and Marian Messing

Predominantly black neighborhoods in D.C. bear the brunt of automated traffic enforcement
Predominantly black neighborhoods in D.C. bear the brunt of automated traffic enforcement

Washington, D.C.,  a member of the International Vision Zero movement, committed itself to end traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2024 through the implementation of engineering…
Research & Data / District of Columbia / June 28, 2018
William Farrell

D.C. Law 22-175: Traffic and Parking Ticket Penalty Amendment Act of 2018.
D.C. Law 22-175: Traffic and Parking Ticket Penalty Amendment Act of 2018.

The Council of the District of Columbia unanimously amended the District of Columbia Traffic Adjudication Act of 1978 to eliminate the suspension of drivers’ licenses for unpaid tr…
Legislation / District of Columbia / March 21, 2017

Who Pays? The True Cost of Incarceration on Families
Who Pays? The True Cost of Incarceration on Families

This report is the result of a collaborative research project from 20 community-based organizations that studied the costs of incarceration on families across 14 states.
Research & Data, Tools / Washington, California, District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Virginia / September 13, 2015
Saneta deVuono-powell, Chris Schweidler, Alicia Walters, Azadeh Zohrabi