Fines and Fees in the Criminal Justice System
In 2019, with $1.2 million in grant funds from Arnold Ventures, CJSF worked with three county governments on efforts to reduce or eliminate reliance on fines and fees collected through the criminal justice system as a source of revenue. After a competitive process, PFM selected Dallas County, Texas; Nashville-Davidson County, Tennessee; and Ramsey County, Minnesota to participate in the initiative.
CJSF worked with these three counties to develop plans to phase out each county’s use of fines and fees without a negative fiscal impact on their operating budget. PFM analyzed data from each county’s budget department, clerks and courts, and other criminal justice agencies to identify each fine and fee in the system. PFM analyzed and cross-referenced state statutes, revenue guides, annual financial reports, budget books, and other accounting and administrative documents to create a comprehensive dataset of all fines and fees in each county. PFM determined who authorizes, assesses, and collects the revenue for each and calculated the total revenue each county generated through its fines and fees annually across disparate criminal justice agencies.
PFM’s findings and recommendations were presented to the stakeholder advisory groups and, in Dallas and Ramsey counties, to county elected leadership.
PFM’s recommendations in Ramsey County led to the 2020 elimination of eleven different fees imposed through the criminal justice system that were under the direct control of County government. County government has also been working to reform state law that controls many of the other fees and fines imposed in the County. In 2021, Nashville Mayor John Cooper called for the elimination of work release and probation fees in his State of the Metro address based on PFM’s recommendations: the Nashville City Council subsequently adopted those recommendations as part of the budget process.
PFM also oversaw a detailed outreach effort that included presentations on the work at the National Association of Counties (NACO) and the Government Finance Officers Association conferences; publication of opinion pieces in Government Finance Review and the Chicago Tribune; commissioning of a set of case studies; and engaging with researchers at both the University of Chicago and the University of Washington in support of research around fines and fees.