Misdemeanor Fines Don't Work, Except to Create Debt

Here's one of those pieces of information that I want to remember, that we should all remember, to be able to bring up when needed.

This is from Bruce Western, a Columbia University sociology professor and co-director of its Justice Lab:

Fines and fees in misdemeanor courts saddle people convicted of minor crimes with thousands of dollars of legal debt. What happens if you pay off the debt?

A randomized experiment in Oklahoma County took a group of people convicted of misdemeanors. The treatment group had all their past and current county debt paid off.

Policymakers say fines and fees help make people accountable and can be a deterrent to further crime. There was no deterrence in Oklahoma: treatments and controls had the same levels of re-arrest, re-conviction, and re-incarceration.

People who had their debt paid off did avoid all the debt collection efforts of the Oklahoma County court. They had fewer warrants for nonpayment, less new debt, were less likely to deal with a debt collector, and more likely to keep their state tax refund.

So did the court at least recoup the fines and fees by issuing warrants, calling in debt collectors etc.? 

No. Only 5% of outstanding debt was collected over one year of follow up.

Despite warrants and calling in debt collectors, etc., why did the court fail to collect its debt? Because people with misdemeanor cases are poor, they can struggle with homelessness, untreated addiction, and mental illness. They have little capacity to pay.

The randomized controlled trial in Oklahoma shows that fines and fees produce a criminalization of poverty. Court involvement and the risk of incarceration is piled on people who can't pay. There's no deterrence and no cost recovery.

This study was led by Devah Pager, and Devah and I travelled down to Oklahoma many times with our great co-authors Helen Cho and Becca Goldstein to conduct the research. (Publication link: American Sociological Review)

I wonder if following the people in this trial for longer than a year (and continuing to forgive any future debts of the "treatment" group, if needed) would show more divergence of outcome? It seems as though not having warrants for nonpayment, not having to deal with the stress of debt collection, and getting to keep your tax refund might start to have noticeable positive effects after a while.

But even without that, since there is no financial benefit to the city/county or deterrent effect from the current punitive policy, one would hope that would be enough to end this debt peonage, as some library systems are ending over-due fines.

We'll see if that happens. I won't hold my breath.