Payment Plans Archives - Page 10 of 11 - Fines and Fees Justice Center

West Virginia Senate Bill 634: Second Chance Driver’s License Act

West Virginia Senate Bill 634 established the state’s second chance driver’s license program. The program allows for temporary stays of driver’s license suspensions and revocations so that people who have unpaid fines and fees can retain gainful employment and settle their court debt.

Washington Substitute Senate Bill 6360: Developing a plan for the consolidation of traffic-based financial obligations

This bill invited criminal justice system stakeholders to participate in a work group to develop a plan and program to consolidate drivers’ traffic fines and fees from multiple Washington courts into “unified and affordable” payment plans.

Why Motive Matters: Designing Effective Policy Responses to Modern Debtors’ Prisons

In this essay, Marsh and Gerrick challenge the most common justification for why debtors’ prisons still exist in present-day America: generating revenue to fund local government and courts. The authors argue that revenue generation is an “incomplete explanation” for debtor’s prisons and point to a variety of other factors that could help complete the picture.

Vermont ACT 147: An act relating to driver’s license suspensions and judicial, criminal justice, and insurance topics

This Act modifies provisions related to driver’s license suspensions. Specifically, it (1) terminates suspensions imposed because of a person’s failure to appear on a criminal traffic offense charged before July 1, 1990.

Missouri SB 572: Modifies various provisions regarding municipalities located in St. Louis County, nuisance abatement ordinances, disincorporation procedures for various cities, and municipal courts

This Act reduces the amount of fees charged to individuals who receive a minor traffic or municipal ordinance violation and changes the procedure for charging fines and fees to people who receive minor traffic or municipal ordinance violations.

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.

Personal Narrative: Andrew

Andrew, a 22-year-old single father, was working as a mechanic and making regular installment payments to the court on a couple of traffic tickets. A few months into the payments, his two-year-old son was diagnosed with leukemia.

Michigan Supreme Court Ability to Pay Workgroup: Tools and Guidance for Determining and Addressing an Obligor’s Ability to Pay

Over the course of six months in 2014, the Michigan Supreme Court Ability to Pay workgroup examined the issue of ability to pay and published a report with tools, best practices, and recommendations for judges and court staff around nonpayment incarceration.