A stunning increase in NC court fees is punishing low-income offenders | Opinion
“Equal Justice Under Law” is inscribed above the main entrance to the U.S. Supreme Court, but when that justice is administered in North Carolina’s courts, equality is undermined by the inequity of court fines and fees.
In the past two decades, the legislature has piled up the costs imposed on those who pass through the court system. Those with resources can pay and move on, but for low-income and indigent defendants, the fees and fines are an ongoing and often increasing punishment.
Advocates for judicial reforms say the court fees alone have increased tenfold since 1999 from four to 45 while the basic cost of appearing in district court has nearly tripled from $61 to $176. New fees include a $75 appointment of counsel fee, a $250 community service fee and a $90 electronic monitoring fee, plus a $4.48 daily charge. If you want a payment plan there’s a fee for that.
Those who can’t pay the costs usually face the suspension of their driver’s license. Meanwhile, their court debts grow with interest and sometimes lead to a return to jail in a kind of modern-day debtors’ prison.
The Republican-controlled General Assembly has repeatedly added and increased court fees. The justification is that offenders should bear more of the cost of their adjudication and supervision, but the fee revenue doesn’t go to the judicial system. It goes to the state’s General Fund, where it helps offset the costs of Republican-driven tax cuts.
Meanwhile, simply boosting court costs doesn’t mean they will be paid.
Whitley Carpenter, a lawyer and policy manager with the advocacy group Forward Justice, said financial punishment that weighs much more heavily on the poor is not only unfair, but also ineffective. “It seems fees are a way to hold people accountable for what they did wrong, but if they don’t have the money, you can’t get blood from a turnip.”
Advocates want the number of fees reduced and more opportunity for offenders to enter no-interest payment arrangements. They also want judges given more leeway to waive fees and fines based on the nature of an offense or a person’s ability to pay.
Driver’s license suspensions for non-payment add significantly to the penalty and affect not only the offender, but whole families. Some people, especially in rural areas, have no option but to drive to work or transport children. When they get caught, their court debt grows.
“That where it really becomes an issue,” said state Rep. Joe John, a Wake Democrat and former judge. “If they drive, they are charged again. It’s a never ever ending cycle.”
The NC Fines and Fees Coalition says hundreds of thousands of licenses have been suspended in North Carolina for failure to pay court costs.
Lauren Robbins, 37 of Durham, experienced one of the suspensions. In her early 20s, she was ticketed for a seat belt violation when she unfastened her belt while driving to help her disabled mother. She could pay the $25 fine, but not the $180 court costs. Her license was suspended and she got tickets for driving anyway. That brought new court costs plus fees charged by the Division of Motor Vehicles.
Now a paralegal with the ACLU, Robbins has helped others caught in a cycle of court debt. “The fines and fees criminalize people for being poor,” she said.
Obviously, there should be a penalty for breaking the law, but the penalty should fit the crime. Instead the legislature is leaning on offenders to generate revenue for unrelated government expenses.
It’s especially onerous on those who can’t pay a sudden court expense which puts them in jeopardy of more violations and more costs. Several states have taken action to reduce or waive court fees. Others are studying the effects of fines and fees on low-income people.
Several bills in the General Assembly have proposed making similar changes in North Carolina. So far, they’ve gone nowhere while court costs keep going up. Equal justice under the law should require an end to that.
This story was originally published June 10, 2024 at 4:30 AM.