A Multifaceted Exploration of Legal Financial Obligations (LFOs) in Philadelphia

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract/Description

Description: This thematic panel highlights new and innovative research on legal financial obligations (LFOs)—i.e., the fines, fees, costs, surcharges, and restitution associated with justice involvement—that are often a prerequisite to court-mandated treatment, diversion, and community supervision. Using primary and secondary data sources, included projects provide key findings on the landscape of LFOs in Pennsylvania, their impacts on individuals under a diversion program known as ARD, and community supervision contexts, and how these impacts aggregate to the neighborhood and community levels. This research has important implications for policy reforms that aim to reduce disparities in access to justice for marginalized communities, and reduce the collateral harms associated with justice involvement.

Sub Unit

• Area VI. The Criminal Justice System / 51. Collateral Consequences of Incarceration

Individual Presentations

• 2. Assessing ARD Participant Views: Preliminary Results from a Multi-wave Survey - Nathan Wong Link, Rutgers University - Camden; Clare Strange, Drexel University; Jordan Hyatt, Drexel University; Kathleen Powell, Drexel University

• 3. A Geospatial Analysis of Legal Financial Obligation (LFO) Debt in Philadelphia - Jordan Hyatt, Drexel University; Brian Lawton, John Jay College of Criminal Justice; Clare Strange, Drexel University; Nathan Wong Link, Rutgers University - Camden; Kathleen Powell, Drexel University

• 4. Parsing the Role of Legal, Extralegal, and Local Factors for Legal Financial Obligation Assessments - Kathleen Powell, Drexel University; Nathan Wong Link, Rutgers University - Camden; Jordan Hyatt, Drexel University