Criminal Justice Debt: A Barrier to Reentry
Publication year:
2010
| Cataloged on:
Oct. 28, 2010
ANNOTATION: “This report examines practices in the fifteen states with the highest prison populations, which together account for 60 percent of all state criminal filings. [The authors] focused primarily on the proliferation of “user fees,” financial obligations imposed not for any traditional purpose such as punishment, deterrence, or rehabilitation but rather to fund tight state budgets” (p. 1). Seven parts follow and executive summary; criminal justice debt is growing at an alarming rate across the U.S.; criminal justice fees frequently lead to an insurmountable cycle of debt; harsh collection practices forge four paths to debtors’ prisons; criminal justice debt impedes reentry and rehabilitation; overreliance on criminal justice fees undermines the proper roles of courts and correctional agencies; and recommendations.
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