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
Following the Money on Fines and Fees
Following the Money on Fines and Fees
The perceived legitimacy of the justice system and public safety may be undermined by the fiscal incentives resulting from states linking revenue from fines and fees to police and…
More than half of Louisiana’s Public Defender Offices in The Red After COVID Shuttered Courts
More than half of Louisiana’s Public Defender Offices in The Red After COVID Shuttered Courts
Public defense in Louisiana is reliant on unpredictable conviction and user fees for the bulk of its funding. For the fourth year in a row, public defense offices have run a budget…
Unjust Revenue from an Imbalanced Criminal Legal System: How Georgia’s Fines and Fees Worsen Racial Inequality
Unjust Revenue from an Imbalanced Criminal Legal System: How Georgia’s Fines and Fees Worsen Racial Inequality
Georgia’s localities are over-reliant on fines and fees revenue, making up more than 10 percent of their general revenue, while the national average among localities was tw…
Driver’s License Suspension for Unpaid Fines and Fees: The Movement for Reform
Driver’s License Suspension for Unpaid Fines and Fees: The Movement for Reform
Laws that suspend, revoke, or prevent driver’s licenses and restrict driving privileges can limit individuals’ access to employment, healthcare, family, and other necessities…
RI opens path for former inmates to break impoverishing cycle of court fees and fines
RI opens path for former inmates to break impoverishing cycle of court fees and fines
Many Rhode Islanders are saddled with debt after incarceration, making reentering into their communities difficult. After the death of George Floyd in Minnesota, Rhode Island’s Sup…
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…
The Price of Poverty in North Carolina’s Juvenile Justice System
The Price of Poverty in North Carolina’s Juvenile Justice System
To better understand the role of poverty in shaping outcomes in North Carolina’s juvenile justice system, the authors conducted interviews and surveyed attorneys, social workers, s…
National Center for Access to Justice Fines and Fees Index
National Center for Access to Justice Fines and Fees Index
In 2016, the National Center for Access to Justice debuted it’s Justice Index and in May 2020, it was updated for the second time. The Fines and Fees Index, an extension of the Jus…
Traffic Tickets Plunged in Florida. It May Mean Painful Budget Cuts for Many Services
Traffic Tickets Plunged in Florida. It May Mean Painful Budget Cuts for Many Services
Florida’s dependence on fines and fees revenue has led to budget cuts for many services as traffic tickets have plunged since March 2020. Revenue from mostly traffic tickets helps…
Flattened: How the COVID-19 Pandemic Knocked Financially Insecure Alabamians on their Backs and Widened the Racial Prosperity Gap
Flattened: How the COVID-19 Pandemic Knocked Financially Insecure Alabamians on their Backs and Widened the Racial Prosperity Gap
Between May and September 2020, Alabamaba Applesseed and partners surveyed 389 financially insecure Alabamaians. The authors documented how daily lives and financial circumstances…