The Increasing Cost of Justice: The Impact of Legal Debts on Individuals and Families

• In Event: Criminal Justice Concerns About Fairness and Abuse

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a substantial increase in the amount of legal debts—court costs, fees, and fines—imposed by the criminal justice system (Appleman, 2016; Harvard Law Review, 2016), many of which have been imposed to offset the costs of criminal justice system operations. Court costs, fees, and fines can result in superfluous criminalization of individuals when they are subject to further court action and system involvement because they are unable to pay the original legal debts (Laisne, Wool, & Henrichson, 2017). Lack of timely payment can also result in interest accruing (Appleman, 2016), which can further exasperate conditions of poverty and result in civil litigation. The current study was conducted by researchers with the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority in partnership with Collaboration for Justice in Chicago. A survey was administered to a convenience sample of individuals from around Illinois who sought expungement and sealing assistance from free legal clinics. Survey questions were borrowed from a study conducted by researchers with the University of Alabama-Birmingham (Cook, 2014) and further refined in consultation with defense attorneys, legal aid clinic staff, and members of the Cook County Justice Advisory Council.

Authors

• Megan Alderden, Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority

• Lily Gleicher, Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority; University of Cincinnati