Report of Statewide Collection of Court-Ordered Debt for 2017-18

In compliance with California law mandating that the Judicial Council report the criminal fines, fees, and assessments revenue collected by each court and county annually, this report profiles the collection of delinquent court ordered debt during the 2017-18 fiscal year. The text also discusses best practices for collection, the role played by third-party collection entities, performance measures used for evaluation, and how statewide collections and distribution were improved during the fiscal year.  

You can read the full text of the report here. 

Key findings

• At the end of the 2017-18 fiscal year, the total amount of delinquent court debt was $10.3 billion, a 1.8 percent increase from the $10 billion of outstanding court debt that was reported for the previous fiscal year.
• $464.9 million in delinquent debt was adjusted by either suspension or dismissal of the total or a  portion of the total amount, or through alternatives to payment such as community service. 
• Of the $166.1 million California courts collected in delinquent court debt, about 24% of that amount was used to offset program operating costs and pay collections entities for their services. 
• $166.3 million of delinquent court debt was discharged by collections programs because it was deemed uncollectible.