Prohibitive court costs and fines keep indigent North Carolinians tied to the criminal justice system while barring any chance at economic mobility, a statewide study found.
The report “Waiving Criminal Court Fees Prevents Harms of Civil Debt” conducted by the Center for Responsible Lending, Forward Justice, and North Carolina Justice Center, found that state-imposed fines and fees that often add up to thousands of dollars have a negative impact on people who can’t afford to pay. The study found the practice of converting fines and fees into civil judgments is becoming increasingly common. But little civil debt is paid off, leaving poor defendants subject to judgments that leads to dire economic repercussions.
“The criminalization of poverty is a major, yet neglected crisis in North Carolina,” said co-author Whitley Carpenter, senior criminal justice counsel and policy manager at Forward Justice. “We hope that this report brings more awareness to the burdens that criminal court fines and fees have on the poorest people in our communities and the heightened burden that follows by converting those fines and fees into civil judgments.”…
