Fines and Fees

ABA Ten Guidelines on Court Fines and Fees

Adopted as policy by the ABA House of Delegates in 2018, the 10 Guidelines on Court Fines and Fees provide practical direction for government officials, policymakers and others charged with developing, reforming and administering court fines and fees. The Guidelines seek to ensure that fines and fees are fairly imposed and administered and that the justice system does not punish people for the "crime" of being poor.

• Resolution and Report to the ABA House of Delegates from the Working Group on Building Public Trust in the American Justice System proposing the adoption of 10 Guidelines on Court Fines and Fees - August, 2018
• Additional Resources
  • Fines and Fees Justice Center
  • Free to Drive: Campaign to End Driver's Licenses Suspensions for Non-Payment
  • Fines, Fees and the Right to Vote - Article in ABA Human Rights Magazine

Privatization of Services in the Criminal Justice System

Released in June 2020, this Report provides an comprehensive overview of the role private companies play throughout the criminal justice system and how the use of these private companies impacts low-income individuals moving through the system. The Report summarizes research done by other entities, academics, journalists, and activists on specific aspects of privatization. The organization of the report tracks the sequence of a typical accused individual's experiences in the criminal justice system following arrest, demonstrating how costs compound as the individual moves through the system.

The Report acknowledges that courts and other government entities sometimes need to import expertise they lack, but it urges governments to recognize how low-income individuals too often can be relentlessly ensnared in the criminal justice system, not because they engage in ongoing criminal activity, but because they cannot pay the debts imposed by the system itself. Too often, by hiring private companies to handle what were previously governmental functions in the criminal justice system, government agencies exacerbate the cycle of mandatory fees, nonpayment, and consequent additional fees. Far too frequently, government authorities allow private companies to operate in the criminal justice system with little or no oversight and to charge fees untethered to actual costs.

The Report urges the ABA to adopt specific policy on the privatization of services in the criminal justice system, as well as to promote the policies, already in existence, calling for careful limitations on fines and fees.

View the Report

• Other Resources on Privatization
  • Human Rights Watch – US Private Probation – Harming the Poor
  • Southern Center for Human Rights - Private Probation
  • National Consumer Law Center - Commercialized (In)Justice: Consumer Abuses in the Bail and Corrections Industry
  • ACLU and Color of Change: Selling Off Our Freedom: How Insurance Corporations Have Taken Over the Bail System