The New Due Process: Fairness in a Fee-Driven State
Courts, prosecutors, and law enforcement work together to assess and collect fines, fees, and forfeitures that fund the justice system – a conflict of interest and a violation of due …
Conflicts of Interest
The Impact of Fines, Fees, and Forfeitures on Policing
Law enforcement agencies across the nation, like many local and state governments, rely on fines, fees, and forfeitures for funding. The heavy fines, parking citations and unnecessary incarceration that result …
A Continuum of Coercive Costs: A State-Level Analysis of the Imposition and Payment Enforcement of Statutory Fees
In the past 40 years, states have dramatically increased the number of costs and fees to shift the financial burden of the criminal justice system from taxpayers to justice-involved individuals. …
Police In This Tiny Alabama Town Suck Drivers Into Legal ‘Black Hole’
Brookside, a small town in Alabama with 1,253 residents and six miles of roads to patrol, has more than doubled its town’s income as fines and forfeitures rose 640 percent …
It’s Time To Reform Washington’s Harmful System Of Fines And Fees
People with low incomes, disabilities, and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) shoulder much of the harm from the legal financial obligations (LFOs) levied in Washington’s criminal legal system. …
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 court …
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 …
County Dependence on Monetary Sanctions: Implications for Women’s Incarceration
As the overall incarceration rate has fallen in the United States, the incarceration rate for women has steadily risen in some areas. With the shift to legal financial obligations as …
Robbing Peter to Pay Paul: Public Assistance, Monetary Sanctions, and Financial Double-Dealing in America
Public assistance helps over 20 percent of the U.S. population mitigate the effects of poverty. In 2017, state and local governments spent $673 billion on public assistance programs. Many people …
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 two percent in 2018. …