Testing the Impact of Juvenile Justice Fees on Probation Outcomes, and Families’ Financial Health – Alameda County Juvenile Fee Repeal 2016

• In Event: Examining the Impact of Justice System Fee Repeal and Financial Sanctions: A Comprehensive Analysis

Abstract

Across the U.S., families are often charged financial sanctions (fees, fines, restitution) when their children become involved in the juvenile legal system. Advocates argue that financial sanctions are harmful and fees should be abolished, but the impact of such reforms is largely unknown. Applying a causal-inference approach (Targeted Maximum Likelihood Estimation with machine learning) to data on 2,401 youth placed on probation before vs. after Alameda County’s juvenile fee repeal in 2016, we found that fee repeal decreased the likelihood of receiving any financial sanctions by 22% (76% vs. 54%) and reduced amounts by 70% ($1,583, $2,256 vs. $673). We found fee repeal reduced youth’s length of probation by 133 days (686 vs. 553 days), but did not significantly affect youths’ recidivism risk, even though having any financial sanctions modestly increased youth’s likelihood of re-arrest (by 4%) and probation violation (by 5%). Additionally, we found no evidence that fee repeal or overall financial sanctions are associated with change in families’ financial health measured by credit scores. Our results suggest that fee repeal can be a powerful policy lever to reduce families’ financial burden and youth’s probation outcome, though its direct impact on reoffending is limited. Policy implications will be discussed.

Authors

• Jennifer Skeem, University of California, Berkeley

• Luyi Jian, University of California, Berkeley

• Jaclyn Chambers, Urban Institute

• Lina Montoya, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill