The Use of Supervision Fees in Probation: A National Study

• In Event: Reforming Community Corrections: Effectiveness, Equity, and Innovation

Abstract

Community supervision fees are collected by agencies across the country to supplement strapped local and state budgets. The role these fees play in agency budgets varies dramatically across jurisdictions. The Utah Criminal Justice Center (UCJC), in collaboration with the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and the National Association of Probation Executives (NAPE), conducted interviews with probation executives across the U.S. to determine how fees drive agency budgets and how some states can move away from the practice. A qualitative content analysis of the interviews is focused on the roles that fees play in agency budgets, other methods of funding, how fees are collected, if and how they can be waived, the means of funding used by agencies that do not collect fees. Results will be presented based on jurisdictional type (centralized/state-level or decentralized/county/municipality) to inform how some jurisdictions have successfully reduced reliance on fees, while others have remained beholden to their use. This information is critical for state legislatures and local governments to produce sound public policy and oversight over probation supervision practices.

Authors

• Megan Foster, University of Utah

• Mariah Cowell Mercier, Utah Criminal Justice Center, University of Utah

• Christian Sarver, University of Utah

• Emily Salisbury, University of Utah