Municipal Violations: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
In this video, John Oliver details the devastating impacts that low-income Americans suffer due to fines and fees and the involvement of private probation companies.
Collateral Consequences
Personal Narrative: Donyale Thomas
Donyale Thomas was in the Ferguson jail for over a week before the City informed her that they would accept $200 for her release.
Personal Narrative: Roelif Carter
Roelif Carter pled guilty and was assessed fines and fees. Fear of jail coerced Mr. Carter to make the payment until he simply could not afford to do so.
Personal Narrative: Keilee Fant
Keilee Fant is a 37-year-old certified nurse assistant and single mother who was arrested for unpaid traffic tickets while taking her children to school. She was jailed over 12 times in 20 years for her inability to pay the debt.
The Debt Penalty: Exposing the Financial Barriers to Offender Reintegration
Contact with the criminal legal system often results in the assessment of fines and fees. For people who are indigent or subject to other financial obligations such as child support …
US: For-Profit Probation Tramples Rights of Poor
This video by Human Rights Watch shows how private probation companies can strip people of basic necessities and jail them because they can’t afford to pay their court debt and exorbitant probation fees.
Best Practices Guide to Reducing Suspended Drivers
This guide by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators discusses how suspending driver’s licenses for non-safety related reasons is ineffective and counter-productive: it diminishes the deterrent effect and perceived legitimacy of license suspension, as well as the efficacy of law enforcement, prosecutors, courts, and motor vehicle agencies.
Shadow Citizens: Felony Disenfranchisement and The Criminalization of Debt
Many states infringe on individuals’ rights to vote; nearly 5.58 million Americans have lost the right to vote due to criminal convictions–many of them people of color and the poor. …
On Cash and Conviction: Monetary Sanctions as Misguided Policy
Legal financial obligations (LFO) used to supplement rather than replace other punishments, have resulted in legal debt for millions of mainly poor residents. In this paper, the authors argue that …
In For A Penny- The Rise of America’s New Debtors’ Prisons
This publication uses personal accounts of people in five different states who struggled to pay their court debt to illustrate the negative effects of debtors’ prisons on individuals, the economy, and the justice system.