"Paying on Probation: How Financial Sanctions Intersect with Probation to Target, Trap, and Punish People Who Cannot Pay"

The title of this post is the title of this lengthy new report released today by the Harvard Law School Criminal Justice Policy Program.  Here is the text of an email I received today concerning the release:

Today, CJPP releases its latest report entitled Paying on Probation: How Financial Sanctions Intersect with Probation to Target, Trap, and Punish People Who Cannot Pay.  In this report, we highlight how jurisdictions use probation to collect and enforce fines, fees, and restitution, and how linking these two systems together exacerbates the harms caused by each.  When payment of outstanding financial sanctions is made a condition of probation, failure to pay can result in being found in violation of probation and punished accordingly.

Through a 50 state survey and interviews with over 100 lawyers, judges, probation officers, and advocates, we explore how linking probation to financial sanctions leads to increased debt amounts, longer system involvement, and highly punitive responses to nonpayment.  On the basis of these and other findings, we call for a complete decoupling of probation and financial sanctions systems.

We release this report amidst a historic outcry for meaningful change in the wake of more senseless deaths at the hands of law enforcement.  As momentum on that front continues to build, we hope that this report can serve as a resource to advocates, lawmakers, and others who are thinking broadly about necessary and long overdue changes, including changes to other harmful aspects of our criminal legal system.

We’ve included a one-page summary of our findings, as well as the full report.  We hope this report can help you in your work.

Sharon Brett, Neda Khoshkhoo, and Mitali Nagrecha