State of Phone Justice: Local jails, state prisons and private phone providers
This policy brief from the Prison Policy Initiative provides an overview of prison and jail phone call fees and makes several recommendations to reform them.
Collateral Consequences
It’s All About The Money: An Exploration of Probation Fees
Texas relies on supervision fees from probationers to recuperate operating costs for their probation program; failure to pay can result in additional sanctions and ultimately, revocations. This study used focus …
Stopping the Debt Spiral
This report shares the results of a survey of 304 low-income Illinois residents who were asked about their experience with debt, including criminal justice debt. Respondents disclosed the types of debt they had, the number of debts they owed, and the emotional toll debt takes on their families.
Personal Narrative: Khalid
Khalid never received notice of fines and fees that led to his driver's license being suspended. He lost a job offer because he had no license.
Personal Narrative: Graciela
Graciela is a 76-year-old caregiver who takes three different buses for five hours to get to work each day. She receives Supplemental Security Income. Her license was suspended because of unpaid Driver’s Responsibility Program (DRP) surcharges.
Criminal Justice Debt in the South: A Primer for the Southern Partnership to Reduce Debt
Criminal justice debt places a h eavy burden on low-income families, often making it harder for those who owe to earn a living, trapping them and their families in poverty. …
Speed Trap or Poverty Trap? Fines, Fees, and Financial Wellbeing
Steven Mello’s research paper investigates the effects of traffic fines on financial wellbeing by studying the correlation between Florida traffic citation records (between 2011 and 2015) and credit reports and payroll data of ticketed drivers.
Changing Course: Driver’s License Suspension in Florida
This policy brief explains some of the justifications for Florida’s practice of suspending driver’s licenses and explores the consequences of that practice—driver’s license suspension disproportionately burdens low-income individuals and has …
Pay or Prey: How the Alameda County criminal justice system extracts wealth from marginalized communities
This whitepaper uses evidence-based research and personal narratives to examine the harms caused by Alameda County criminal legal fees.
Next Stop: Felony Parking
This SoundCloud recording made available by the Chicago Jobs Council takes an in-depth look into how parking tickets from 1999 cost 37-year old LaSheria Murphy her driver’s license, peace of mind, livelihood, and dignity.