This past week, two important pieces have appeared on NPR and the New York Times bringing attention to the increased practice of levying exploitive fines and fees on indigent people passing through the criminal and civil justice system.
The
first piece from NPR, based on a report of a St. Louis-area public defender group, found that half the courts in St. Louis County engage in the “illegal and harmful practices” of charging high court fines and fees on nonviolent offenses like traffic violations — and then arresting people when they don’t pay. The report singles out courts in three communities, including Ferguson. In Ferguson, the $2.6 million collected annually from court costs account for the city’s second-largest source of revenue.
These practices are rife nationwide. As
NPR reported in May, services that “were once free, including those that are constitutionally required,” are now frequently billed to offenders. These include probation and parole supervision, electronic monitoring devices, arrest warrants, and drug and alcohol testing. Even the costs of a public defender and room and board when jailed are often billed to the defendant.
In Washington state offenders even “get charged a fee for a jury trial — with a 12-person jury costing $250, twice the fee for a six-person jury.”
The article notes:
“These companies are bill collectors, but they are given the authority to say to someone that if he doesn’t pay, he is going to jail,” John B. Long, a lawyer in Augusta, Ga. active in defending the poor, told The Times.
“more than 1,000 courts in several US states delegate tremendous coercive power to companies that are often subject to little meaningful oversight or regulation. In many cases, the only reason people are put on probation is because they need time to pay off fines and court costs linked to minor crimes. In some of these cases, probation companies act more like abusive debt collectors than probation officers, charging the debtors for their services.”
Cook County Is No Exception
Although we do not have privatized probation departments or prisons in Cook County, our justice has become increasingly dependent on charging court fines, fees, and costs to individuals passing through the criminal courts and traffic court.
Part of the issue is a lack of clarity on the bench. Our interviews with practitioners have discovered massive variability amongst judges in understanding what court costs and fees are able to be waived. Many erroneously believe that, despite a finding of indigence, certain court costs and fees cannot be waived when in fact, neither 705 ILCS 105/27.2a or ILCS S.Ct. Rule 298 — the laws that govern these matters – make any reference to a limitation on the types of fees, costs, or charges that may be waived.
In addition to this, as we’ve previously discussed on this blog, Chicago Appleseed has uncovered a practice whereby defendants are being denied public defenders or being asked to reimburse the public defender’s office without ever having had the constitutionally-required hearing to determine their indigence.
Further issues have been raised about Traffic Court judges threatening incarceration and ordering exploitive lengths of SWAP (Sheriff’s Work Alternative Program) for individuals with modest traffic fines.
We are continuing to work on all these matters with an eye toward the principle espoused by the National Center for State Courts in their Guide to Fees, Fines, and Costs — that while the collection of these charges is “important for reasons of revenue,” it is not more important than “the integrity of the courts.”
Please stay turned to NPR’s Guilty and Charged series of reports.
