Executive Summary
The past decade has seen a troubling and well-documented increase in fees and fines imposed on defendants by criminal courts. Today, many states and localities rely on these fees and fines to fund their court systems or even basic government operations.
A wealth of evidence has already shown that this system works against the goal of rehabilitation and creates a major barrier to people reentering society after a conviction. footnote1_bmAgsnZDrqp6TsGuoHjMEEWUdsqbgpE4ojeIX8XgO0_suWfiDrHfIZl1Alicia Bannon, Mitali Nagrecha, and Rebekah Diller, Criminal Justice Debt: A Barrier to Reentry, Brennan Center for Justice, 2010, 30, http://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/legacy/Fees and Fines FINAL.pdf; Matt Ford, “The Problem with Funding Government Through Fines,” Atlantic, Apr. 2, 2015, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/04/the-problem-with-funding-government-through-fines/389387/. They are often unable to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars in accumulated court debt. When debt leads to incarceration or license suspension, it becomes even harder to find a job or housing or to pay child support. There’s also little evidence that imposing onerous fees and fines improves public safety.
Now, this first-of-its-kind analysis shows that in addition to thwarting rehabilitation and failing to improve public safety, criminal-court fees and fines also fail at efficiently raising revenue. footnote2_9pTzidPawnlawpWcxdMH6ntXGFRxFpLefe2Z5gpg-U_u2YQZm7T7DGG2Traffic offenses may be criminal in some jurisdictions and civil in others. The authors attempted to include criminal traffic offenses but not civil traffic offenses. Juvenile justice, noncriminal traffic infractions, and restitution were beyond the scope of this analysis, though the costs of each are considerable.The high costs of collection and enforcement are excluded from most assessments, meaning that actual revenues from fees and fines are far lower than what legislators expect. And because fees and fines are typically imposed without regard to a defendant’s ability to pay, jurisdictions have billions of dollars in unpaid court debt on the books that they are unlikely to ever collect. This debt hangs over the heads of defendants and grows every year.
This study examines 10 counties across Texas, Florida, and New Mexico, as well as statewide data for those three states. The counties vary in their geographic, economic, political, and ethnic profiles, as well as in their practices for collecting and enforcing fees and fines.
Key Findings
- Fees and fines are an inefficient source of government revenue. The Texas and New Mexico counties studied here effectively spend more than 41 cents of every dollar of revenue they raise from fees and fines on in-court hearings and jail costs alone. That’s 121 times what the Internal Revenue Service spends to collect taxes and many times what the states themselves spend to collect taxes. One New Mexico county spends at least $1.17 to collect every dollar of revenue it raises through fees and fines, meaning that it loses money through this system.
- Resources devoted to collecting and enforcing fees and fines could be better spent on efforts that actually improve public safety. Collection and enforcement efforts divert police, sheriff’s deputies, and courts from their core responsibilities.
- Judges rarely hold hearings to establish defendants’ ability to pay. As a result, the burden of fees and fines falls largely on the poor, much like a regressive tax, and billions of dollars go unpaid each year. These mounting balances underscore our finding that fees and fines are an unreliable source of government revenue.
- Jailing those unable to pay fees and fines is especially costly — sometimes as much as 115 percent of the amount collected — and generates no revenue.
- The true costs are likely even higher than the estimates presented here, because many of the costs of imposing, collecting, and enforcing criminal fees and fines could not be ascertained. No one fully tracks these costs, a task complicated by the fact that they are spread across agencies and levels of government. Among the costs that often go unmeasured are those of jailing, time spent by police and sheriffs on warrant enforcement or driver’s license suspensions, and probation and parole resources devoted to fee and fine enforcement. This makes it all but impossible for policymakers and the public to evaluate these systems as sources of revenue.
Recommendations
- States and localities should pass legislation to eliminate court-imposed fees. Courts should be funded primarily by taxpayers, all of whom are served by the justice system.
- States should institute a sliding scale for assessing fines based on individuals’ ability to pay. The purpose of fines is to punish those who violate the law and deter those who might otherwise do so. A $200 fine that is a minor inconvenience to one person may be an insurmountable debt to another.
- Courts should stop the practice of jailing for failure to pay, which harms rehabilitation efforts and makes little fiscal sense.
- States should eliminate driver’s license suspension for nonpayment of criminal fees and fines. The practice makes it harder for poor people to pay their debts and harms individuals and their families. Lawmakers should follow the approach taken by Texas, where recent legislation will reinstate hundreds of thousands of licenses. footnote3_50IZVTaNuLXHKJQWvcCtaWBa9VbojXf-3YAS3JTIjcE_dJXrDQcefaea3Tex. H.B. 2048, 86th Leg., R.S. (2019).
- Courts and agencies should improve data automation practices so that affected individuals understand their outstanding court debts and policymakers can more thoroughly evaluate the efficacy of fees and fines as a source of revenue.
- States should pass laws purging old balances that are unlikely to be paid but continue to complicate the lives of millions, as some jurisdictions, including San Francisco, have done. footnote4_ykfriodTIZWbPHtRaJ7mmqzvRJysfXGirCMIPom8ZPo_mtT9xeCQ5YPM4San Francisco Office of the Treasurer & Tax Collector, “San Francisco to Become First County in the Nation to Eliminate All Locally Controlled Fees Assessed from People Exiting the Criminal Justice System,” May 22, 2018, https://sftreasurer.org/press-release-san-francisco-become-first-county-nation-eliminate-all-locally-controlled-fees. This would also ensure that individuals who have been free and clear of the criminal justice system for many years are not pulled back in simply on the basis of inability to pay.
What’s the Difference Between Fees and Fines?
Fines, imposed upon conviction, are intended as both deterrence and punishment. In Texas, for example, a fine of up to $500 may be imposed for a low-level offense, such as a traffic violation; a fine of up to $2,000 may be imposed for more serious misdemeanors, such as harassment or minor drug possession; and a fine of up to $4,000 may be imposed for the most serious misdemeanors, such as unlawful carrying of a weapon and assault with injury. footnote5_KFC0vmNwE-4DfF7GObwl11tUDstc0bnbUrhpsPOdtWA_znfTOYB7JIk35Texas Penal Code §12.03 (1994).
Fees, by contrast, are intended to raise revenue. footnote6_hXP4QwOrzqFcVXcIbQt1qw9edPyXxs19itRLGgIMg_zX17FEhJezD66Joseph Shapiro, “As Court Fees Rise, the Poor Are Paying the Price,” NPR, May 19, 2014. Often they are automatically imposed and bear no relation to the offense committed. In most cases, fees are intended to shift the costs of the criminal justice system from taxpayers to defendants, who are seen as the “users” of the courts. They cover almost every part of the criminal justice process and can include court-appointed attorney fees, court clerk fees, filing clerk fees, DNA database fees, jury fees, crime lab analysis fees, late fees, installment fees, and various other surcharges.
The Growing Use of Fees and Fines — and the Damage They’ve Done
Since 2008, almost every state has increased criminal and civil court fees or added new ones, and the categories of offenses that trigger fines have been expanded. Our justice system increasingly relies on fees and fines charged to defendants in criminal cases to fund basic operations. footnote7_MYZXlWGwDB7HS4J972pfQJgYQ2TXpNoN3QEWnk9Ay1k_uD6zITqPZspE7Matthew Shaer, “How Cities Make Money by Fining the Poor,” New York Times Magazine, Jan. 8, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/08/magazine/cities-fine-poor-jail.html.
For example, North Carolina collects 52 separate fees, disbursing them to four state agencies and 611 counties and municipalities. It uses fees to fund half of the state’s judicial budget as well as jails, law enforcement, counties, and schools. footnote8_NW2YaWlEH5tl8Y2xr2ETrj6C3o0qxN3IjdO-edCSo8_jn2VcYUutuxU8Joseph Neff, “No Mercy for Judges Who Show Mercy,” Marshall Project, Nov. 29, 2017, https://www.themarshallproject.org/2017/11/29/no-mercy-for-judges-who-show-mercy. Using fee and fine revenues to fund the judiciary can create perverse incentives with the potential to distort the fair administration of justice. When criminal courts become responsible for their own financing, they may prioritize the imposition of significant fee and fine amounts and dedicate substantial staff to collecting these sums.
In Florida, a significant portion of the funds raised through fees and fines is allocated to the state’s general coffers. footnote9_zqroSL9nNKIdyTVglp2ZJuOFGnXetGIitOwkPX8C-R4_iSrGRMDroLDw9Florida Clerks of Court, interview. Colorado has used increased court fees to replace and update public buildings, including a judicial complex and a museum. footnote10_SE7Za1L-cSD8LxYJZVgBKfzmEyUYaZubUvrX15AGeT4_eBeWnbQFwVKB10Mark Harden, “Judicial complex, museum get go-ahead,” Denver Business Journal, June 4, 2008, https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2008/06/02/daily32.html?ana=from_rss. Florida and Kentucky increased court fees as a way to address state fiscal crises. footnote11_7Fxk3UYTRYEBlgRyLPc2G9uni2NL7eXxUOYzLRcWfwk_cjPj0xiDekp311Rebekah Diller, Court Fees As Revenue?, Brennan Center for Justice, 2008, https://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/court-fees-revenue; In Oklahoma, where a 1992 referendum made it nearly impossible for legislators to raise taxes, lawmakers have increasingly come to rely on fees and fines to fund the state budget. footnote12_p4s9P88Dn2sEsYffdNXFvO2ryvA1tSem0mJGdhv0P8_j2b6zfAQV3kn12Kate Carlton Greer, “Over The Years, Court Fines, Fees Have Replaced General Revenue Funds,” KGOU, Feb. 9, 2015, http://kgou.org/post/over-years-court-fines-fees-have-replaced-general-revenue-funds. Some fee and fine revenue has even been used for personal perks: fees and surcharges allocated to a judicial expense fund in Louisiana were found to have been spent on luxury goods, including supplemental health insurance for judges, two Ford Expeditions, a leather upholstery upgrade for a take-home vehicle, and a full-time private chef. footnote13_w5RpcvzycaylklKmZkevTHohWYCG2sEzWxnRczI5Rk_qHd7TX1KnniS13Criminal Justice Policy Program, Confronting Criminal Justice Debt: A Guide for Policy Reform, Harvard Law School, 2016, http://cjpp.law.harvard.edu/assets/Confronting-Crim-Justice-Debt-Guide-to-Policy-Reform-FINAL.pdf.
This increase in fees and fines has exacted a steep human cost. Individual amounts may be small, but they can quickly add up, meaning indigent people may face hundreds or thousands of dollars in accumulated debt that they’e unable to pay. While “debtors’ prisons” have been declared unconstitutional, many states still incarcerate people for failure to pay criminal justice debt. And even when failure to pay is not an explicit charge, jail sentences are handed down for failure to appear or failure to comply — infractions that often stem from failure to pay. In Socorro County, New Mexico, for example, one magistrate judge has adopted a “three strikes” policy. For each missed payment of outstanding court costs, the court’s enforcement response progresses from a bench warrant, to a bench warrant with a bond, to a charge of failure to comply that carries a three-day jail sentence. Each day spent in jail may then be credited against the defendant’s outstanding debts. footnote14_ZjBHSHgdtbHoEO0fBAtou9HcMIFO9Z02knwhcZtvXU4_t1vjgLu2NpbY14Deborah Fowler et al., Pay or Stay: The High Cost of Jailing Texans for Fines and Fees, Texas Appleseed and Texas Fair Defense Project, 2017, https://www.texasappleseed.org/sites/default/files/PayorStay_Report_final_Feb2017.pdf. Under the guise of different charges, such a policy perpetuates the function of a debtors’ prison.
In this way, criminal justice debt represents a significant barrier to a person’s chances of successfully reentering society following a conviction. It also hurts the families of those who are incarcerated, depriving them of a wage earner while adding new court costs to the defendant’s criminal debts. One study found that about half of families with convicted members cannot afford to pay fees and fines. Moreover, nearly two in three families who had a family member incarcerated were unable to meet their households’ basic needs, such as food and housing. footnote15_TA4i2cH2UuIRidHIbL0VMHpYVLuZW1lJkzRBqNXusE_bxyW2uAlejpv15Ella Baker Center for Human Rights et al., The True Cost of Incarceration on Families, Sept. 2015, 7–9, https://ellabakercenter.org/sites/default/files/downloads/who-pays.pdf. States such as Florida that suspend driver’s licenses for unpaid fees and fines only exacerbate this economic distress, as those who lose their license may then lose their job as well as their ability to take family members to school or medical appointments and to drive themselves to court.
There is also evidence that fees and fines are assessed in a racially discriminatory way. A 2017 report by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights found that municipalities that rely heavily on revenue from fees and fines have a higher than average share of African American and Latino residents. footnote16_Yox1407CKDrtyqEJcZVd84zbwYkHB1qxZdMpCkIPE_f01IHyqAK26v16U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, “Targeted Fines and Fees Against Communities of Color: Civil Rights & Constitutional Implications,” Sept. 2017, 3, https://www.usccr.gov/pubs/2017/Statutory_Enforcement_Report2017.pdf.
By now, these harms have been well documented. But there has been much less research conducted on the fiscal costs of fees and fines. This report aims to start filling that gap. Without an understanding of how much governments are spending to administer fees and fines, and how much in fees and fines is never collected, decision-makers can’t accurately gauge the efficacy of these programs.
Report Terms
Assessment. As used in this report, assessment refers to the amount of the fee or fine imposed by a judge on a criminal defendant at sentencing. For many minor offenses, assessments are made at the conclusion of a simple hearing before a judge or magistrate in which the defendant makes a plea, the evidence is reviewed, and a decision is made by the judge or magistrate. More complex and serious criminal cases may involve separate appearances in court, including an arraignment in which the charges are read and a defendant’s plea is accepted by the judge, a trial before the judge (and possibly a jury), and a sentencing hearing, at which point fees and fines may be imposed by the judge.
Criminal justice debt. Criminal justice debt is composed of legally binding financial obligations imposed on those convicted by criminal courts. While such debt may comprise fees, fines, and victim restitution — payments ordered to victims as compensation — this report deals only with fees and fines (see below), which are recognized as revenue on the balance sheets of courts and other public agencies. In contrast to private and many civil debts, criminal justice debt is enforced by the criminal justice system and can result in the issuance of arrest warrants for nonpayment, criminal court hearings, additional fines and court surcharges, detention in jail, inclusion on criminal records, and — in some states — loss of voting privileges.
Fines. Criminal fines are penalties imposed on defendants after conviction, intended as both deterrence and punishment. The amount of a fine is set by statute and based on the severity of the crime. For misdemeanors, fines may be relatively small. For felonies, fines are typically larger. Fines vary by jurisdiction and may be enhanced for repeat offenses. For example, each of the three states included in this study imposes fines as a penalty for drunk driving. For a first offense, New Mexico assesses a $300 fine, Florida assesses a $500 fine, and Texas may assess up to $2,000. In all three states, drunk driving is an enhanceable offense, meaning that the penalties, including fines, escalate depending on the number of prior offenses. footnote17_W2olZPsrO35NU6Qt1MDUXW2VzqIjwt-sgkEjq55Xn1s_mBGkrAVbPEOV17Fla. Stat. §316.193 (2019), http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0300–0399/0316/Sections/0316.193.html; New Mexico Motor Vehicle Department, “DWI Information,” http://www.mvd.newmexico.gov/dwi-information.aspx; Texas Department of Transportation, “Driving While Intoxicated (DWI),” https://www.txdot.gov/inside-txdot/division/traffic/safety/sober-safe/intoxication.html.
Fees. Criminal fees, unlike fines, are intended to raise revenue. Often they are automatically imposed and bear no relation to the offense committed. In most cases, fees are intended to shift the costs of the criminal justice system from taxpayers to defendants, who are seen as the “users” of the courts. Cash-strapped state and local governments rely on criminal fees to raise revenue for other purposes as well, thereby avoiding the politically unpopular step of raising taxes. Most jurisdictions impose certain fees on every defendant convicted, regardless of the nature of the offense. For example, one convicted of a misdemeanor in Florida is charged a $20 court cost fee, a $3 Court Cost Clearing Trust Fund fee, a $60 Fine and Forfeiture Fund fee, a $20 Crime Stoppers Program fee, a $50 prosecution fee, a $50 crime compensation fee, and a $20 Crime Prevention Fund fee, and potentially others. footnote18_npcAYIvspU6VTPsL2r5Q3cY6h-69xWfdoWRxcCBBoAI_qweyrQBtmJMa18Fla. Criminal Procedure and Corrections Code §938.01–938.06 (2005). Other fees are offense-specific and imposed only on defendants convicted of certain offenses. For example, in New Mexico there are fees for defendants convicted of driving under the influence (DUI) or drug offenses. footnote19_XIdtEUsRJWUPIgbw7B2fLceTdiomwWwugDp1oOmpiw_rvGrHg7tOirS19New Mexico Motor Vehicle Department, “DWI Information,” http://www.mvd.newmexico.gov/dwi-information.aspx. While fees may be imposed by courts, parole and probation departments, and jails and prisons, this report focuses on fees imposed by criminal courts following conviction. In some jurisdictions, fees may be referred to by another name. For example, some of the fees imposed by courts in Texas are called “court costs.” footnote20_znY5pF1AuCWLcAQlZ4V5GqixaztQnUPhDFk9KrBs9hU_xnEr4XgTF1F020Texas Judicial Branch, “Filing Fees and Court Costs,” www.txcourts.gov/publications-training/publications/filing-fees-courts-costs.aspx.
Revenue. Fees and fines both serve as sources of revenue for state and local governments. The permissible uses for this revenue are typically set by statute. Many fees are earmarked for specific purposes, such as programs that divert defendants from prison, courthouse maintenance, or traffic safety education. Much of the revenue from criminal justice fees and fines is used to fund the judiciary or routed to law enforcement. In some cases it goes to a state or locality’s general fund, where it may be used for purposes wholly unrelated to law enforcement or the courts. Fine revenue is disbursed according to statute in each of the three states studied. In each state, most fine revenue goes into a general fund at the state or municipal level, though some is directed toward particular programs, such as road maintenance or schools.
While state statutes prescribe the distribution of funds collected through the criminal justice system, the allocation of revenue varies. For example, in New Orleans, the $11.5 million in criminal justice fees and fines collected in 2015 was distributed among eight agencies, providing funding for the municipal court, district court, public defenders, and traffic court. footnote21_qCK34XYNBvXYjHVK3Z3C4MuQeftOxXy8hC6n82RlyUY_xwXhIToqocSw21Mathilde Laisne et al., Past Due: Examining the Cost and Consequences of Charging for Justice in New Orleans, Vera Institute of Justice, 2017, 20–21, https://www.vera.org/publications/past-due-costs-consequences-charging-for-justice-new-orleans. In Allegan County, Michigan, half of court-imposed fees went toward running the county courthouse, paying employee salaries, heating the court building, purchasing copy machines, and underwriting the cost of the county employee gym. footnote22_LH2vZAKwzkE0si6fIz-ScQHUMbtjFH-NpwlNa8cUZL0_nbpAf8GNtvyc22Shapiro, “As Court Fees Rise, the Poor Are Paying the Price.”
Waivers. In some courts, judges have authority to reduce the amount of certain fees and fines imposed at conviction. footnote23_edi5mcrnhbURYr2qcLR3Rh6nrULkiyFpvDsg0pT-CG8_vKSuURjKI2a423Neff, “No Mercy for Judges Who Show Mercy.” Amounts reduced without a quid pro quo (such as the performance of community service in lieu of payment or time spent in jail) often are referred to as waivers. This is the meaning of the term as employed in this report. The issuance of waivers varies considerably among jurisdictions and states.
Jail credits. Some states waive fees and fines in exchange for jail time, which are referred to as jail credits and are distinct from the kinds of credits through which people earn reductions to sentences. Though this alternative might be pitched as a benefit to those who want to discharge their debt in this manner, no one who has a choice and can make other payment arrangements would choose jail. Further, many defendants have no say in the matter. For example, one magistrate judge in Socorro County, New Mexico, jails individuals for missing three payments without making a court appearance, regardless of ability to pay. footnote24_66T10mojBQkmBVD-PK7nFRpnOI7kjTH7onZONLWI_t8o08Hw2x3jS24Brennan Center original research (see Appendix B: Methodology). Perversely, people can accumulate additional fees during their stay in jail, leaving them with more debt than when they entered. footnote25_rmBIThp3kwjbEznBxUvCmH2VQN2UYFztcoM3qK2fMWo_ysMmD9ZIsWQL25Lauren-Brooke Eisen, “Paying for Your Time: How Charging Inmates Fees Behind Bars May Violate the Excessive Fines Clause,” Loyola Journal of Public Interest Law 15 (2014): 319–341.
In some states, including Alabama, Michigan, and Texas, when people are picked up on a warrant for a failure to pay traffic tickets or fines, they may be jailed involuntarily to pay off delinquent criminal justice debt through credits issued for each day spent in jail. footnote26_PXWdbfN3BvVqTkHxm5XeX5-F2qxD9VBP3n0Sgn5nhc8_rcKdvkw9cfb026State Bans on Debtors’ Prisons and Criminal Justice Debt, Harvard Law Review 129 (2016): 1024–1045, https://harvardlawreview.org/2016/02/state-bans-on-debtors-prisons-and-criminal-justice-debt/. These credits do not generate actual revenue but simply exchange jail time for debt reduction at a great cost to the government. Jailing also comes at great cost to the people affected and their families. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that imprisonment for unpaid fines or fees without a hearing to determine ability to pay is unconstitutional. footnote27_TpODNFxeFUNeD8sQfbFeRLnCrvaYCiPkfx6Ccd41N4I_hQpaCYnaLFER27Bearden v. Georgia, 461 U.S. 660 (1983). If courts find that a defendant is unable to pay, they are required to consider alternatives, such as deferrals, payment plans, community service, and waivers. Unfortunately, in practice, many courts fail to make these financial determinations. footnote28_dW5EzCh0sKCaQPRNUWcViSABtBzCqCib4dwuBK3R6Ts_rB8hFXplSgNa28“Settlement Requires L.A. Superior Court to Consider Drivers’ Inability to Pay Traffic Fines,” American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, Oct. 8, 2018, American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, October 8, 2018, https://www.aclusocal.org/en/press-releases/settlement-requires-la-superior-court-consider-drivers-inability-pay-traffic-fines.
Community service credits. Most states offer some type of community service option as an alternative to payment, though these practices vary significantly within and across states. footnote29_FFdN3OrvY3OThbI6tM0eXAikLQ0m7BC5a38GOjPJX8_mYgmNMQu2NsL29Bannon et al., Criminal Justice Debt: A Barrier to Reentry, 15–17. Some states offer programs assigning people to pick up trash or maintain parks in lieu of a jail sentence or fine, while other states allow people to meet educational requirements to pay off their debt. Some types of community service require classes for certification (e.g., controlling traffic for the Department of Transportation), which can lead to employment opportunities after the debt is paid. footnote30_R-evMuEyk1Q1nYEVtOB7Iv2nSIrt1A1obCw-OZlkEXk_zLE9bhs2RXVv30Ibid.
In some states, community service is seldom available to defendants because judges feel pressure to raise revenue for their city or county. footnote31_MprP8JbS9weXaeW7xB1T5dM838o5Y1AUcb8UXDgzQ_nsUF9MXLfwUA31Ibid., 30. For those who get the opportunity, community service hours are often paid at the federal minimum wage, only $7.25 an hour, making it unrealistic for people to devote the time necessary to work down their debt. This is even harder if they have jobs or are caring for family members. footnote32_R-evMuEyk1Q1nYEVtOB7Iv2nSIrt1A1obCw-OZlkEXk_lF3BgWH6CTW732Ibid.
End Notes
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footnote1_bmAgsnZDrqp6TsGuoHjMEEWUdsqbgpE4ojeIX8XgO0_suWfiDrHfIZl
1
Alicia Bannon, Mitali Nagrecha, and Rebekah Diller, Criminal Justice Debt: A Barrier to Reentry, Brennan Center for Justice, 2010, 30, http://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/legacy/Fees and Fines FINAL.pdf; Matt Ford, “The Problem with Funding Government Through Fines,” Atlantic, Apr. 2, 2015, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/04/the-problem-with-funding-government-through-fines/389387/. -
footnote2_9pTzidPawnlawpWcxdMH6ntXGFRxFpLefe2Z5gpg-U_u2YQZm7T7DGG
2
Traffic offenses may be criminal in some jurisdictions and civil in others. The authors attempted to include criminal traffic offenses but not civil traffic offenses. Juvenile justice, noncriminal traffic infractions, and restitution were beyond the scope of this analysis, though the costs of each are considerable. -
footnote3_50IZVTaNuLXHKJQWvcCtaWBa9VbojXf-3YAS3JTIjcE_dJXrDQcefaea
3
Tex. H.B. 2048, 86th Leg., R.S. (2019). -
footnote4_ykfriodTIZWbPHtRaJ7mmqzvRJysfXGirCMIPom8ZPo_mtT9xeCQ5YPM
4
San Francisco Office of the Treasurer & Tax Collector, “San Francisco to Become First County in the Nation to Eliminate All Locally Controlled Fees Assessed from People Exiting the Criminal Justice System,” May 22, 2018, https://sftreasurer.org/press-release-san-francisco-become-first-county-nation-eliminate-all-locally-controlled-fees. -
footnote5_KFC0vmNwE-4DfF7GObwl11tUDstc0bnbUrhpsPOdtWA_znfTOYB7JIk3
5
Texas Penal Code §12.03 (1994). -
footnote6_hXP4QwOrzqFcVXcIbQt1qw9edPyXxs19itRLGgIMg_zX17FEhJezD6
6
Joseph Shapiro, “As Court Fees Rise, the Poor Are Paying the Price,” NPR, May 19, 2014. -
footnote7_MYZXlWGwDB7HS4J972pfQJgYQ2TXpNoN3QEWnk9Ay1k_uD6zITqPZspE
7
Matthew Shaer, “How Cities Make Money by Fining the Poor,” New York Times Magazine, Jan. 8, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/08/magazine/cities-fine-poor-jail.html. -
footnote8_NW2YaWlEH5tl8Y2xr2ETrj6C3o0qxN3IjdO-edCSo8_jn2VcYUutuxU
8
Joseph Neff, “No Mercy for Judges Who Show Mercy,” Marshall Project, Nov. 29, 2017, https://www.themarshallproject.org/2017/11/29/no-mercy-for-judges-who-show-mercy. -
footnote9_zqroSL9nNKIdyTVglp2ZJuOFGnXetGIitOwkPX8C-R4_iSrGRMDroLDw
9
Florida Clerks of Court, interview. -
footnote10_SE7Za1L-cSD8LxYJZVgBKfzmEyUYaZubUvrX15AGeT4_eBeWnbQFwVKB
10
Mark Harden, “Judicial complex, museum get go-ahead,” Denver Business Journal, June 4, 2008, https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2008/06/02/daily32.html?ana=from_rss. -
footnote11_7Fxk3UYTRYEBlgRyLPc2G9uni2NL7eXxUOYzLRcWfwk_cjPj0xiDekp3
11
Rebekah Diller, Court Fees As Revenue?, Brennan Center for Justice, 2008, https://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/court-fees-revenue; -
footnote12_p4s9P88Dn2sEsYffdNXFvO2ryvA1tSem0mJGdhv0P8_j2b6zfAQV3kn
12
Kate Carlton Greer, “Over The Years, Court Fines, Fees Have Replaced General Revenue Funds,” KGOU, Feb. 9, 2015, http://kgou.org/post/over-years-court-fines-fees-have-replaced-general-revenue-funds. -
footnote13_w5RpcvzycaylklKmZkevTHohWYCG2sEzWxnRczI5Rk_qHd7TX1KnniS
13
Criminal Justice Policy Program, Confronting Criminal Justice Debt: A Guide for Policy Reform, Harvard Law School, 2016, http://cjpp.law.harvard.edu/assets/Confronting-Crim-Justice-Debt-Guide-to-Policy-Reform-FINAL.pdf. -
footnote14_ZjBHSHgdtbHoEO0fBAtou9HcMIFO9Z02knwhcZtvXU4_t1vjgLu2NpbY
14
Deborah Fowler et al., Pay or Stay: The High Cost of Jailing Texans for Fines and Fees, Texas Appleseed andTexas Fair Defense Project, 2017, https://www.texasappleseed.org/sites/default/files/PayorStay_Report_final_Feb2017.pdf.
-
footnote15_TA4i2cH2UuIRidHIbL0VMHpYVLuZW1lJkzRBqNXusE_bxyW2uAlejpv
15
Ella Baker Center for Human Rights et al., The True Cost of Incarceration on Families, Sept. 2015, 7–9, https://ellabakercenter.org/sites/default/files/downloads/who-pays.pdf. -
footnote16_Yox1407CKDrtyqEJcZVd84zbwYkHB1qxZdMpCkIPE_f01IHyqAK26v
16
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, “Targeted Fines and Fees Against Communities of Color: Civil Rights & Constitutional Implications,” Sept. 2017, 3, https://www.usccr.gov/pubs/2017/Statutory_Enforcement_Report2017.pdf. -
footnote17_W2olZPsrO35NU6Qt1MDUXW2VzqIjwt-sgkEjq55Xn1s_mBGkrAVbPEOV
17
Fla. Stat. §316.193 (2019), http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0300–0399/0316/Sections/0316.193.html; New Mexico Motor Vehicle Department, “DWI Information,” http://www.mvd.newmexico.gov/dwi-information.aspx; Texas Department of Transportation, “Driving While Intoxicated (DWI),” https://www.txdot.gov/inside-txdot/division/traffic/safety/sober-safe/intoxication.html. -
footnote18_npcAYIvspU6VTPsL2r5Q3cY6h-69xWfdoWRxcCBBoAI_qweyrQBtmJMa
18
Fla. Criminal Procedure and Corrections Code §938.01–938.06 (2005). -
footnote19_XIdtEUsRJWUPIgbw7B2fLceTdiomwWwugDp1oOmpiw_rvGrHg7tOirS
19
New Mexico Motor Vehicle Department, “DWI Information,” http://www.mvd.newmexico.gov/dwi-information.aspx. -
footnote20_znY5pF1AuCWLcAQlZ4V5GqixaztQnUPhDFk9KrBs9hU_xnEr4XgTF1F0
20
Texas Judicial Branch, “Filing Fees and Court Costs,” www.txcourts.gov/publications-training/publications/filing-fees-courts-costs.aspx. -
footnote21_qCK34XYNBvXYjHVK3Z3C4MuQeftOxXy8hC6n82RlyUY_xwXhIToqocSw
21
Mathilde Laisne et al., Past Due: Examining the Cost and Consequences of Charging for Justice in New Orleans, Vera Institute of Justice, 2017, 20–21, https://www.vera.org/publications/past-due-costs-consequences-charging-for-justice-new-orleans. -
footnote22_LH2vZAKwzkE0si6fIz-ScQHUMbtjFH-NpwlNa8cUZL0_nbpAf8GNtvyc
22
Shapiro, “As Court Fees Rise, the Poor Are Paying the Price.” -
footnote23_edi5mcrnhbURYr2qcLR3Rh6nrULkiyFpvDsg0pT-CG8_vKSuURjKI2a4
23
Neff, “No Mercy for Judges Who Show Mercy.” -
footnote24_66T10mojBQkmBVD-PK7nFRpnOI7kjTH7onZONLWI_t8o08Hw2x3jS
24
Brennan Center original research (see Appendix B: Methodology). -
footnote25_rmBIThp3kwjbEznBxUvCmH2VQN2UYFztcoM3qK2fMWo_ysMmD9ZIsWQL
25
Lauren-Brooke Eisen, “Paying for Your Time: How Charging Inmates Fees Behind Bars May Violate the Excessive Fines Clause,” Loyola Journal of Public Interest Law 15 (2014): 319–341. -
footnote26_PXWdbfN3BvVqTkHxm5XeX5-F2qxD9VBP3n0Sgn5nhc8_rcKdvkw9cfb0
26
State Bans on Debtors’ Prisons and Criminal Justice Debt, Harvard Law Review 129 (2016): 1024–1045, https://harvardlawreview.org/2016/02/state-bans-on-debtors-prisons-and-criminal-justice-debt/. -
footnote27_TpODNFxeFUNeD8sQfbFeRLnCrvaYCiPkfx6Ccd41N4I_hQpaCYnaLFER
27
Bearden v. Georgia, 461 U.S. 660 (1983). -
footnote28_dW5EzCh0sKCaQPRNUWcViSABtBzCqCib4dwuBK3R6Ts_rB8hFXplSgNa
28
“Settlement Requires L.A. Superior Court to Consider Drivers’ Inability to Pay Traffic Fines,” American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, Oct. 8, 2018, American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, October 8, 2018, https://www.aclusocal.org/en/press-releases/settlement-requires-la-superior-court-consider-drivers-inability-pay-traffic-fines. -
footnote29_FFdN3OrvY3OThbI6tM0eXAikLQ0m7BC5a38GOjPJX8_mYgmNMQu2NsL
29
Bannon et al., Criminal Justice Debt: A Barrier to Reentry, 15–17. -
footnote30_R-evMuEyk1Q1nYEVtOB7Iv2nSIrt1A1obCw-OZlkEXk_zLE9bhs2RXVv
30
Ibid. -
footnote31_MprP8JbS9weXaeW7xB1T5dM838o5Y1AUcb8UXDgzQ_nsUF9MXLfwUA
31
Ibid., 30. -
footnote32_R-evMuEyk1Q1nYEVtOB7Iv2nSIrt1A1obCw-OZlkEXk_lF3BgWH6CTW7
32
Ibid.