Public Safety Archives - Fines and Fees Justice Center

Winnable Criminal Justice Reforms 2026

The Prison Policy Initiative released a list of promising policy reforms across several touchpoints in the criminal legal system: sentencing, incarceration, and release. The report identifies 34 reforms in eight …

Incarcerated as a child, reentering as an adult: The unique reentry experiences and needs of juvenile lifers

The Supreme Court decisions in Miller v. Alabama (2012) and Montgomery v. Louisiana (2016) resulted in the resentencing of individuals originally sentenced to mandatory life without parole as children. To …

Bipartisanship at Work: A Decade of Fines and Fees Reform

In an era marked by deep political divisions, certain issues transcend partisan boundaries, uniting leaders in pursuit of common-sense reforms. The movement to eliminate burdensome justice system fines and fees has emerged as one such cause, gaining support from policymakers across the political spectrum.

Beyond Social Determinants: Fiscal Determinants of Overdose Death in U.S Counties, 2017–2020

Rising overdose-related deaths have prompted many to explore what factors make some communities more severely affected than others. This report presents findings from a first-of-its-kind national study examining how county-level …

Beyond Enforcement: Prioritizing Safety in Federal Transportation Funding

The Department of Transportation (DOT) provides grants for traffic safety measures, but its reporting requirements often prioritize enforcement metrics over strategies to reduce traffic crashes and fatalities. This white paper …

The Conservative Case For Fines And Fees Reform

The current criminal and civil fine and fee system in the United States should concern conservatives. This report shows how this system violates four core conservative principles: individual freedom and …

The Long-Term Impact of Debt Relief For Indigent Defendants in a Misdemeanor Court

A follow-up study to Criminalizing Poverty: The Consequences of Court Fees in a Randomized Experiment, confirms what many have long argued—court fines and fees do not deter crime. Instead, they …

Reframing The Debate on Legal Financial Obligations and Crime: How Accruing Monetary Sanctions Impacts Recidivism

As the use of legal financial obligations (LFOs) continues to grow, researchers have identified a need to better understand the long-term impacts on justice-involved individuals. Using data on monetary sanctions, …

Eliminate justice-related fees and invest in Oklahoma’s justice system

Oklahoma’s reliance on court-imposed fines and fees as a funding mechanism for its criminal justice system disproportionately harms justice-involved individuals, especially those with low incomes. This approach places a significant …

Racial Disparities in Use of Force at Traffic Stops

Millions of traffic stops occur nationwide for reasons unrelated to safety. Officers not only use traffic stops as a pretext to conduct a search or investigate for other crimes but …