Courts as Revenue Centers Archives - Page 18 of 19

Taxing the Poor: Incarceration, Poverty Governance, and the Seizure of Family Resources

To finance its carceral system, the United States government levies taxes on the country’s most impoverished strata. Although those involved in the justice system are typically low-income individuals, they are …

Why Crime Doesn’t Pay: Examining Felony Collections

This research paper “examines the contributing factors which make collection of felony fines and [fees in Florida] significantly lower than collections for all other case types” and analyzes why felony collection enforcement is especially difficult.

Not Just a Ferguson Problem: How Traffic Courts Drive Inequality in California

This 2015 report provides a comprehensive overview of how California’s approach to the enforcement of fines and fees for traffic violations creates a two-tiered justice system—those who can afford to pay escape the system, while those who are too poor to pay are trapped.

Investigation of the Ferguson Police Department

After Michael Brown was shot by a member of the Ferguson Police Department, the Department of Justice’s investigation uncovered a pattern of racially discriminatory practices by the Ferguson Police Department which were primarily rooted in the city’s dependence on the criminal justice system to raise revenue. The publication of the Ferguson report is widely viewed as the start of the movement to reform fines and fees in the U.S.

Missouri SB 5: Modifies distribution of traffic fines and court costs collected by municipal courts

This Act significantly modifies various provisions related to local government revenue in Missouri, including the imposition and enforcement of fines and fees in municipal courts. The Act imposed a 20% cap on municipal court revenue from fines and fees everywhere in the state except St. Louis County, where the cap was 12.5%.

Unified But Not Uniform: Judicial Funding Issues in Alabama

This study explains how the current lack of uniformity in funding of Alabama’s courts, even after the 1973 establishment of the Unified Judicial System (UJS), warrants a second wave of reform.

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 …

Report on the Results of the Arizona Judiciary Pilot Collections Project

This Arizona collections pilot program aimed to test whether a temporary reduction in fine amounts might increase court revenues.

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 …

Office of the New York State Comptroller: Report on the Justice Court Fund

This 2010 Justice Court Fund report from the New York State Comptroller details revenue trends in New York's local courts.