Targeted Fines and Fees Against Communities of Color
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights issued a landmark report detailing the disproportionate harms that communities of color suffer from fines and fees.
Right to Counsel
Personal Narrative: Demetrice Moore
Demetrice Moore is a certified nursing assistant and mother of two children. In 2002, she was convicted of grand larceny, and sentenced to jail and to pay court costs, including the cost of the lawyer appointed to represent her because she was indigent. She served her jail time, but was unable to pay the court costs she owed, which resulted in the automatic suspension of her Virginia driver’s license.
DiFrancesco v. Fox
Plaintiffs allege that defendant’s practice of suspending drivers’ licenses indefinitely until all court fines and fees are paid regardless of ability to pay violates equal protection and due process.
Injustice Under Law: Perpetuating and Criminalizing Poverty Through The Courts
The ability to hire an attorney in either a civil or criminal proceeding can result in an experience that is procedurally and substantively different than that of someone who is …
Monetary Sanctions in the Criminal Justice System
This review of law and policy is the first-year report of a five-year study comprising quantitative and qualitative research that provides a detailed understanding of how fines and fees are imposed and enforced across the United States.
Kentucky SB 120: An act relating to crimes and punishments and making an appropriation therefor.
This bill makes dozens of changes to Kentucky’s criminal justice statutes, and several of those changes constitute meaningful fines and fees reform.
Massachusetts Supreme Court Rule 3:10: Assignment of Counsel
This court rule establishes new procedures for Massachusetts courts to determine defendants’ ability to pay and for courts to assess fees for public counsel based on that determination.
The Right to Counsel in Indiana: Evaluation of Trial Level Indigent Defender Services
In Indiana, federal and state constitutions entitle all adults or children found to be indigent and facing the possibility of incarceration on misdemeanors or felonies, the right to public counsel. …
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.
Biloxi Municipal Court Procedures for Legal Financial Obligations & Community Service
This bench card was created as part of a 2016 settlement agreement in Kennedy v. Biloxi, an ACLU lawsuit against the city of Biloxi, Mississippi, where defendants could avoid incarceration only if they paid their fines and fees immediately, in full, with cash.