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
In the Rearview Mirror: St. Louis’s Municipal Courts After a Decade of Reform and Regress
In the Rearview Mirror: St. Louis’s Municipal Courts After a Decade of Reform and Regress
Ten years ago, the death of Michael Brown ignited the Ferguson Uprising, bringing to light systemic injustices in municipal courts across St. Louis County. In the wake of this trag…
Fant et al. v. City of Ferguson
Fant et al. v. City of Ferguson
Case No. 4-15-CV-00253-AGF| Settled February 27, 2024 Claims at Issue: In a class action complaint filed on February 8, 2015, the plaintiffs, nine class representatives who had bee…
Post-Ferguson Class Action Suits Challenging Fine and Fee Schemes in Missouri
Post-Ferguson Class Action Suits Challenging Fine and Fee Schemes in Missouri
Post-Ferguson Class Action Suits Challenging Fine and Fee Schemes in Missouri In 2014, when a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri shot and killed Michael Brown, the City of Ferg…
Roberts Webb et al. v. City of Maplewood
Roberts Webb et al. v. City of Maplewood
On March 6, 2023, a federal judge approved a $3.25 million settlement in this class-action lawsuit brought against the City of Maplewood, Missouri. The suit alleged that the City r…
Factoring in Family: Considerations of Parenthood in the Assessment, Enforcement and Collection of Legal Financial Obligations
Factoring in Family: Considerations of Parenthood in the Assessment, Enforcement and Collection of Legal Financial Obligations
This study explores the relationship between monetary punishment and parenthood from the perspectives of court and community corrections professionals. The authors rely on data fro…
Justice by Geography: The Role of Monetary Sanctions Across Communities
Justice by Geography: The Role of Monetary Sanctions Across Communities
Although state statutes often dictate the amount of fines and fees imposed, local courts have significant discretion in how they carry out the laws and there is variation between c…
Taking on Traffic Laws: A How-To Guide for Decriminalizing Mobility
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 peopl…
Fowler v. Missouri Sheriffs’ Retirement System
Fowler v. Missouri Sheriffs’ Retirement System
Fowler v. Missouri Sheriffs’ Retirement System 623 S.W.3d 578 (2021) Issue: Whether the statute allowing counties and municipal courts to assess and collect a $3 surcharge that goe…
What is Wrong with Monetary Sanctions? Directions for Policy, Practice, and Research
What is Wrong with Monetary Sanctions? Directions for Policy, Practice, and Research
Each year tens of millions of people are assessed fines, fees, and other costs stemming from their contacts with the criminal legal system, ranging from felony convictions to traff…
Private Probation Costs, Compliance and the Proportionality of Punishment: Evidence from Georgia and Missouri
Private Probation Costs, Compliance and the Proportionality of Punishment: Evidence from Georgia and Missouri
In misdemeanor courts, private probation companies provide supervision in at least a dozen states. Private probation is often accompanied by a number of unique supplementary costs,…