Fines and fees are levied at every stage of the criminal justice system. People who are poor and unable to pay them are criminalized and face many collateral consequences in …
Washington, D.C., a member of the International Vision Zero movement, committed itself to end traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2024 through the implementation of engineering, education, and enforcement strategies. …
In this op-ed for The Hill, FFJC Co-Directors Lisa Foster and Joanna Weiss explain how fines and fees damage public safety & harm low-income communities of color: “Using fines and fees …
California’s use of private debt collection companies for criminal justice fines and fees debt disproportionately impacts communities of color and perpetuates a cycle of poverty. The California Reinvestment Coalition reviewed …
This study assesses the use of fines and fees for misdemeanor crimes in Nevada and Iowa to highlight the perverse incentives embedded in the practice of using courts as revenue centers. The article proposes the concept of “monetary myopia,” or a short-sighted focus on revenue at the expense of other concerns, to explain the states’ behavior.
In 2017, the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office, Financial Justice Project, and Mayor’s Office of Budget and Public Policy studied the collateral consequences of criminal justice administrative fees on San Franciscans. Their findings were published in this report, which also coincides with 2018 San Francisco County legislation that abolished all discretionary fees imposed by the county.
This report reveals that California programs and services supported by revenue from fines and fees have been compromised by low-income motorists’ inability to pay those fines and fees.
The National Council of Juvenile Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) passed a resolution advocating for the reduction or elimination of fines and fees in juvenile courts. The resolution was published alongside a judicial bench card that outlines types of financial obligations that youth and families may encounter in juvenile and family court, details the impacts of those obligations, and explains how judges can address fines and fees in their own courtrooms. The bench card includes several practice recommendations for juvenile and family court judges.