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
Identifying Drivers of Absconding
Identifying Drivers of Absconding
To identify the factors that drive parole and probation revocations, the Crime and Justice Institute, conducted a comprehensive assessment of community supervision policies and pra…
Investigation of the Lexington Police Department and the City of Lexington, Mississippi
Investigation of the Lexington Police Department and the City of Lexington, Mississippi
On September 26, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a report concluding that the City of Lexington, Mississippi, and the Lexington Police Department (LPD) engaged “i…
Why We Need to Stop Suspending and Revoking Driver’s Licenses Due to Debt
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 ha…
Debtors Prisons: In Mississippi, Judges Can Lock You Up For Owing Money
Debtors Prisons: In Mississippi, Judges Can Lock You Up For Owing Money
In Mississippi, judges lock up people while they work to earn money to pay off court fees, fines, and restitution, without an end date. People spend an average of four months and u…
Examining the Intersection Between Criminal Justice and Financial Services in the Deep South
Examining the Intersection Between Criminal Justice and Financial Services in the Deep South
The text discusses the financial burdens and barriers to financial stability faced by people after they are released from prison.
Think Debtors Prisons Are a Thing of the Past? Not in Mississippi.
Think Debtors Prisons Are a Thing of the Past? Not in Mississippi.
The authors of this feature report detail the lived experiences of poor people sentenced to Mississippi’s restitution centers while they work to earn money to pay off court-ordered…
Mississippi HB 1352: The Criminal Justice Reform Act [Ends driver’s license suspension for unpaid fines and fees, failure to appear]
Mississippi HB 1352: The Criminal Justice Reform Act [Ends driver’s license suspension for unpaid fines and fees, failure to appear]
The bill provides that when a person fails to pay their fines and fees (whether for traffic, misdemeanor, or felony offenses), a clerk will provide written notice advising that fai…
Mississippi HB 387: An Act to Provide that Incarceration Shall Not Automatically Follow the Nonpayment of a Fine, Restitution, or Court Costs […]
Mississippi HB 387: An Act to Provide that Incarceration Shall Not Automatically Follow the Nonpayment of a Fine, Restitution, or Court Costs […]
This bill was proposed to enshrine Rule 26.6(b) of the Mississippi Rules of Criminal Procedure in state law. Its provisions are nearly identical: it mandates a determination of wil…
Mississippi Rules of Criminal Procedure, Rules 26.6 and 27.3: Fine, Restitution, and/or Court Costs following Adjudication of Guilt.
Mississippi Rules of Criminal Procedure, Rules 26.6 and 27.3: Fine, Restitution, and/or Court Costs following Adjudication of Guilt.
Following litigation by the ACLU, the MacArthur Justice Center, and the Southern Poverty Law Center challenging debtor’s prisons in Biloxi, Jackson, and Corinth, the Mississippi Su…
Mississippi Department of Public Safety declines to enforce statute that permits driver’s license suspension for failure to pay fines and fees
Mississippi Department of Public Safety declines to enforce statute that permits driver’s license suspension for failure to pay fines and fees
The Mississippi Department of Public Safety made a number of discretionary changes regarding driver’s license suspensions for unpaid fines and fees — they stopped suspending licen…