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
The Hidden Cost of Compliance: Exploring How Fees Influence Correctional Interventions and Probation Outcomes
The Hidden Cost of Compliance: Exploring How Fees Influence Correctional Interventions and Probation Outcomes
Intervention fees or programming fees for mandated services, such as drug testing and treatment, mental health services, class or program participation, community service, or elect…
Should Unpaid Traffic Tickets Lead to Jail Time? This Justice of The Peace Doesn’t Think So.
Should Unpaid Traffic Tickets Lead to Jail Time? This Justice of The Peace Doesn’t Think So.
In Texas, failing to pay fines and fees for low-level traffic offenses can result in arrest warrants. In Harris County, Justice of the Peace Steve Duble has taken a bold step by re…
We Scrape Together Pennies: Fairness and Effectiveness of Monetary Sanctions
We Scrape Together Pennies: Fairness and Effectiveness of Monetary Sanctions
Monetary sanctions are ingrained in every element of the criminal legal system, including as a condition of community supervision. This study examines the administration, collectio…
Forgotten But Not Gone: A Multi-State Analysis of Modern-Day Debt Imprisonment
Forgotten But Not Gone: A Multi-State Analysis of Modern-Day Debt Imprisonment
The majority of states allow imprisonment as a direct result of failing to pay (FTP) court debt. This report presents findings from a three-state case study that sought to estimate…
The Impact of Criminal Financial Sanctions: A Multi-State Analysis of Survey and Administrative Data
The Impact of Criminal Financial Sanctions: A Multi-State Analysis of Survey and Administrative Data
This multi-state study assesses outcomes related to recidivism, employment, expenditures, mental well-being, and household spillovers. Researchers specifically analyzed how increas…
Predatory Fines and Fees: Revenue, Fiscal Contrition, and Policy Change
Predatory Fines and Fees: Revenue, Fiscal Contrition, and Policy Change
Some local jurisdictions are beginning to grapple with the social costs and individual harms associated with monetary sanctions and how they can become less reliant on them. This r…
The Cost of Parking: A Preliminary Analysis of Parking Tickets Data in Austin, Minneapolis, and Portland
The Cost of Parking: A Preliminary Analysis of Parking Tickets Data in Austin, Minneapolis, and Portland
Parking tickets can serve as an entry point to the criminal legal system when left unpaid, causing lifelong financial burdens. Additional consequences include suspended driver’s li…
Estimating the Earnings Loss Associated With a Criminal Record and Suspended Driver’s License
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…
Is There a Link Between Criminal Debt and Recidivism in Reentry?
Is There a Link Between Criminal Debt and Recidivism in Reentry?
To determine whether legal financial obligations (LFOs) are criminogenic, the author analyzed a multistate data set from the Urban Institute’s Returning Home Studies. The study fo…
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…