According to a recent analysis from the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy (KyPolicy), Kentuckians who interact with the state’s criminal justice system must negotiate a complex network of penalties and fees that impose hefty and capricious expenses at almost every turn.
A first-of-its-kind statutory research that identifies over 1,000 Kentucky state law provisions that impose criminal judicial system fines and fees is included in the report titled The Hidden Web of Criminal judicial System Fines and Fees in Kentucky. Due to the fact that so many people cannot afford them, as of 2019, Kentuckians owe at least $91 million in unpaid fines and fees.
But there is no comprehensive, centralized source of information on the extensive web of legal financial obligations, so they remain hidden. In an attempt to seem tough on crime and to close budget gaps caused by tax cuts, lawmakers are increasingly using fines and penalties, which makes this data gap especially worrisome.
According to Ashley Spalding, co-author of the report and director of KyPolicy research, the analysis provides much-needed insight into the criminal justice system’s penalties and fees as a crucial policy issue that requires addressing in Kentucky. In addition to being a small and unreliable source of money that is also expensive to collect, a substantial and expanding body of research demonstrates that these penalties and fees do not prevent crime. However, they are pervasive across the criminal justice system and have terrible, enduring effects on those who cannot afford them.
KyPolicy researchers reviewed Kentucky’s statutes to identify all criminal system fees and fines where incarceration is a potential punishment in order to better understand the state’s fines and fees issue. Because penalties and the accompanying court fees affect so many individuals, fine-only traffic violations were also included. The research found more than 1,000 clauses that levy such a criminal fine or cost, dispersed throughout hundreds of chapters.
Pam Thomas, a KyPolicy Senior Fellow and report co-author, stated, “Our work took months to complete, but even so, it is just the tip of the iceberg because it does not include civil or locally imposed fines and fees, restitution, or asset forfeiture, all of which create additional burdens on top of those discussed in the report.” Scott West, a KyPolicy consultant and recently departed Deputy Public Advocate of Kentucky, assisted Thomas in leading the statue evaluation.
Apart from reviewing the statute, the report offers fresh, fundamental information about the high incarceration costs levied throughout the Commonwealth. In order to get this data, the researchers sent open records requests to all 74 full-service Kentucky jails, asking for information on fees charged to inmates housed there. Of these, fifty-seven responded. In order to get information regarding fees levied in state prisons, open records requests were also sent to the Finance and Administration Cabinet and the Department of Corrections. The answers uncovered a wide range of incarceration costs that varies significantly between jails and prisons as well as between jails.
According to Patience Martin, a KyPolicy State Policy Fellow and co-author of the research, the data we gathered shows how extremely difficult these fees are for Kentuckians who are incarcerated and for their loved ones. Given that Kentucky’s jailed laborers receive pitiful wages for their labor and struggle to pay off growing institutional debts, health care services, and expensive requirements in these facilities, these expenses are particularly burdensome.
The following policy recommendations are included in the report’s conclusion:
Demanding penalties and charges Data gathering, reporting, and opennessCreating a consistent ability-to-pay assessmentRemoving the application of jail terms for outstanding debtsEstablishing a statute of limitations to recover fines and fees from the criminal justice system
Before more lives are lost, the legislative session offers a chance to start changing Kentucky’s criminal justice system fines and fees, according to Spalding. Lawmakers ought to take it.
You can get the complete report online atkypolicy.org.
Center for Economic Policy in Kentucky