The Crime Report (https://thecrimereport.org/tag/cash-register-justice/)
Although Curtis Lovelace was acquitted in the 2006 murder of his wife, he was still saddled with a hefty county administrative fee. Local court systems across the country depend on such fees for badly needed revenue, but are they fair?
Lawyers argued that three court fees charged by Ferguson — failure to appear, “warrant recall” and letter fees — had no beneficial value other than to generate revenue for the city.
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, 376,000 drivers have their license suspended for failure to pay or respond. The state legislature is considering amnesty, along with a community service option, to help motorists escape the escalating cycle of fines and fees.
A decision by Los Angeles County to eliminate court administrative fees could soon be followed by a statewide measure. State Senator Holly Mitchell, author of a new bill to slash the fees, said they are a “self-defeating, anemic source of revenue.”
For years, Boyle County in Kentucky’s bluegrass region has taken 50 percent off money paid to inmates by their families as a way to fund jail operations. But recently, authorities decided that the fee didn’t “further any legitimate goal of the criminal justice system.”
In Pennsylvania, court fees and surcharges provide “back door funding” for cash-strapped state and county budgets, while saddling the poorest defendants with escalating debt, a news investigation finds.
Revenue from fines and fees has become an alternative to tax revenue for many local governments. But for poor people like Maleah Hartnett, accumulating court debt is a crushing burden.
Hundreds of Mississippi prisoners work at places like fast-food outlets and meatpacking plants to pay off court-ordered debts. Collectively, they earn $2.1 million annually.
A report from nonprofit groups said jail inmates, most of whom have not been convicted, pay large amounts for phone calls and commissary products.
Like many towns and cities around the country, New Orleans has been funding its criminal court largely from fines and fees assessed on people who can least afford it. Critics recently won an agreement from the city to increase funding, but judges say they won’t change their practices without a mandate from the state legislature.