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Court Costs, Fines, and Fees Are Bad Policy R E C O M M E N D a T I O N S F O R I L L I N O I S L E G I S L a T O R S

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Court Costs, Fines, and Fees Are Bad Policy R E C O M M E N D a T I O N S F O R I L L I N O I S L E G I S L a T O R S COURT COSTS, FINES, AND FEES ARE BAD POLICY R E C O M M E N D A T I O N S F O R I L L I N O I S L E G I S L A T O R S C H I C A G O A P P L E S E E D & C H I C A G O C O U N C I L O F L A W Y E R S | J U L Y 2 0 2 0 COURT COSTS, FINES, AND FEES ARE BAD POLICY TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ..................................................................1 PART I: HISTORY + SCOPE OF MONETARY SANCTIONS......2 - 10 when + how did court costs, fines, fees, and criminal justice debt arise? ....2 what is the current scope of monetary sanctions in criminal courts? how do they relate to other legal structures? ..............................................3 what institutional imperatives drive monetary sanctions? .........................4 Figure 1: "Revenue from Monetary Sanctions in the U.S. and in Illinois" ................................4 challenging intuitive explanations .......................................................................5 Punishment ........................................................................................................................5 Budgetary Needs................................................................................................................5 Figure 2: "Revenue from Monetary Sanctions and Crime Rates in Illinois" .............................5 Figure 3: "U.S. Arrests".................................................................................................................6 underlying institutional motivations...................................................................7 Deliberate Investment in Policing and Punishment .........................................................7 Figure 4: "Illinois Arrests, Felony Filings, and Felony Sentences" ..........................................8 Inadequate Court Funding ................................................................................................9 Targeting Black and Hispanic Communities ....................................................................10 PART II: REVIEWING THE EVIDENCE .............................11 - 21 what are the explicit rationales for imposing monetary sanctions? ..........11 do money sanctions accomplish their intended goals? .................................11 punishment...............................................................................................................11 revenue-raising.......................................................................................................12 fairness....................................................................................................................13 Claim 1: "Everyone is treated the same." ...........................................................................14 Claim 2: "Funds from fines + fees go toward victims' restitution." .................................14 Claim 3: "Monetary sanctions are 'user fees' for the justice system." .............................15 what are the collateral consequences of monetary sanctions? .................16 direct restrictions of civil rights.........................................................................17 poverty penalties....................................................................................................17 poverty traps ..........................................................................................................18 systemic corruption ...............................................................................................19 Figure 5: "Collateral Consequences in Illinois" ......................................................................19 given the consequences, are monetary sanctions constitutional? ............20 are monetary sanctions "good policy"? ..........................................................21 CHICAGO APPLESEED & CHICAGO COUNCIL OF LAWYERS JULY 2020 COURT COSTS, FINES, AND FEES ARE BAD POLICY TABLE OF CONTENTS C O N T I N U E D PART III: ROADMAP FOR REFORM .................................22 - 33 benefits and challenges of reforms implemented in other jurisdictions.....22 mitigation mechanisms............................................................................................21 Payment Plans..................................................................................................................23 Community Service............................................................................................................23 Jail Credits .......................................................................................................................23 Ability to Pay Determinations .........................................................................................24 incremental reforms...............................................................................................25 Changes to State and Local Law ......................................................................................25 Improve Transparency......................................................................................................25 Mitigate Collateral Consequences..................................................................................27 Implement Sliding Scales..................................................................................................27 promising new approaches.....................................................................................28 Short-Term.......................................................................................................................29 Long-Term.........................................................................................................................30 what is the reform landscape in illinois? ......................................................32 recommendations for illinois legislators.....................................................32 REFERENCES ...............................................................33 - 37 APPENDICES ...............................................................38 - 39 CHICAGO APPLESEED & CHICAGO COUNCIL OF LAWYERS JULY 2020 COURT COSTS, FINES, AND FEES ARE BAD POLICY INTRODUCTION This report explores the rise of monetary between “fines” and “fees” are not consistently sanctions as common practice in the meaningful in practice. Today, monetary sanctions criminal legal system and evaluates their are broadly applied in all fifty states and their use continues to rise; 48 states have instituted additional utility as policy tools. The phrase “monetary monetary sanctions in the past ten years (Bastien, sanctions” is an umbrella terms that 2017). describes a broad range of fines, fees, and court costs—elsewhere referred to as “legal In Illinois, before the passage of the Criminal and financial obligations” (LFO’s) or, when not Traffic Assessments Act (CTAA) in 2019, there were paid in full, “criminal justice debt”—which over 90 different fines and fees on the books; the majority of these remain in place and there is still no have theoretically distinct but often limit to the amount of monetary sanctions that can muddled legal definitions. be combined on a single case (Statement on Excessive Court Fines, Fees, and Costs, 2016). Historically, “fines” and “fees” were posited to serve Meanwhile, advocates have become increasingly different roles under the law—fines were explicitly vocal about the social harms created by the overuse part of a convicted person’s punishment and were of monetary sanctions in the criminal justice system intended to serve a retributive and deterrent —particularly the disproportionate impact they have purpose. Fees, by contrast, were intended to raise on Black communities—and have worked with revenue for the state (Menendez et al., policymakers to implement reforms to mitigate 2019). However, recent court rulings in Illinois and these harms (Beckett & Harris, 2011; Confronting nationally have challenged this dichotomy. In Illinois, Criminal Justice Debt, 2016; Harris, 2016; Henricks & a 2009 ruling held that “a charge labeled a fee by Harvey, 2017). Further, new empirical research has the legislature may be a fine, notwithstanding the shed light on the high financial costs of words actually used by the legislature” and administering fines and fees, finding that on top of concluded in that case that “the charges imposed the social harms of monetary sanctions, they also fail herein do not seek to compensate the state for any tests of cost-effectiveness as revenue-raising tools costs incurred as the result of prosecuting the (Menendez et al., 2019). defendant” as a “fee” is supposed to do (Friedman & Pattillo, 2019, p. 176; People v. Graves, 2009). At the The first section of this policy brief provides an national level, in response to the Timbs v. Indiana overview of the history of court costs, fines, and fees, U.S. Supreme Court ruling finding that the Eight and the institutional motives underlying their use; Amendment’s “excessive fines” clause does apply to describes the scope of such policies in Illinois and the states, legal scholars and advocates argue that it nationally; and reviews the growing body of should also be possible to challenge the validity of evidence that, by every reasonable metric, monetary charges currently categorized as “fees” under the sanctions are ineffective at best and harmful at eighth amendment (Colgan, 2018). Thus, for a worst (Beckett & Harris, 2011; Harris, 2016). The number of reasons, it is helpful to use the broader second section reviews the kinds of reforms that category of “monetary sanctions”
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