Court Fines And Fees: Criminalizing Poverty In North Carolina
In the last 20 years, criminal and court fees have increased by 400 percent in North Carolina, and a large sum is disbursed to the state General Fund, which the …
Driver's License Suspension
Denial of the Right to Counsel in Misdemeanor Cases: Court Watching in Nashville, Tennessee
ArchCity Defenders organized a court watching program at the Davidson County General Sessions Criminal Court in Nashville on Monday, September 12, 2016. The goal of the program was to learn more about the administration of right to counsel in misdemeanor courts in Nashville, and to learn if defendants were being incarcerated for inability to pay fines and fees.
Personal Narrative: Jane Doe (Tennessee)
She was a single black woman, age 37, with three children, ages 14, 10, and 8. Her disabled grandmother also lived with her. She worked two jobs to take care of her family and brought home just under $1200 monthly. After paying rent of $715, she had very little left to meet everyone’s needs. She reported having been to Court 1A five times in the past two years, facing charges of driving on a suspended license.
Confronting Criminal Justice Debt: A Guide for Policy Reform
This Guide for Policy Reform by Harvard Law School’s Criminal Justice Policy Program is organized into four issue areas: conflicts of interest, poverty penalties and poverty traps (when people are forced to pay more or face harsher sanctions because of their poverty), the ability-to-pay determination, and transparency and accountability. Under each of these sections, a description of the problem is followed by legislative, judicial, and executive reform suggestions for people at the state level to use and incorporate into their efforts.
Confronting Criminal Justice Debt: A Guide for Litigation
This guide aims to inform litigators about various strategies to defend and gain relief for individual clients burdened by criminal justice debt. It also serves to foster communication and understanding among stakeholders who work in this particular area of the justice system.
Debtors’ Prisons: Life Inside America’s For-Profit Justice System
This video provides an overview of the history of debtors’ prisons in the U.S. and features compelling commentary from citizens describing how our current system of court fines and fees put them in difficult situations and made them resort to desperate measures for survival.
Report and Recommendations of the Task Force on Fair Justice for All: Court-Ordered Fines, Penalties, Fees, and Pretrial Release Policies
Arizona Chief Justice Scott Bales established Arizona’s Task Force on Fair Justice for All to recommend reforms for the state’s fines and fees procedures. The report consists of 11 principles and 53 corresponding recommendations.
Alvarado v. Superior Court of California
The Superior Court of the County of Los Angeles referred people who owed court fines and fees for traffic tickets to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) without any inquiry into the individual’s ability to pay. A referral to the DMV resulted in the suspension of the person’s driver’s license.
Personal Narrative: Damian Stinnie
During his search for new employment, Stinnie received four traffic citations that totaled $1002.00 in fines and fees. He was unable to pay, and his license was suspended. The first time he knew his license had been suspended was when he was stopped and cited by the police for driving with a suspended driver’s license.
Alaska SB 91: Omnibus Criminal Law & Procedure; Corrections
This law implements a wide range of evidence-based reforms concerning multiple stages of the criminal justice process, from pre-trial practices to reentry programming and more. These reforms include, but are not limited to, increasing the earning credit for community service, reducing sanctions for driving with a suspended license, implementing a "grace period" for failure to appear in court, and requiring reentry planning for people who are exiting incarceration.