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Poverty Penalties and Poverty Traps

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Below are the poverty penalties and poverty traps that meet your search criteria. Many include a See related provisions prompt which searches our database for laws that may pertain to your result.

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	State	Statute	Description/Statute Name	Statutory language	Type of poverty penalty or poverty trap	Level of offense	Mandatory
Add to Dashboard + Create New	Kentucky	Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 534.020(3)(b),(4)	Methods of imposing fines; installment payment plan; determination of reason for defendant's default; show cause hearing; certain installment payments not to be reported as liquidated debt	(b) If the defendant fails to appear at the show cause hearing, the court may issue a warrant for the defendant's arrest. Any warrant for arrest issued for nonpayment of + See more court costs, fees, or fines pursuant to this subsection shall include a notice to the jailer that the defendant shall be released upon payment or completion of daily credit pursuant to KRS 534.070. (4) When a defendant is sentenced to pay court costs, fees, or fines, an alternative sentence of imprisonment that is to be served in the event the court costs, fees, or fines are not paid shall not be imposed at the same time. The response of a court to nonpayment shall be determined only after: (a) The court costs, fees, or fines have not been paid; and (b) 1. The show cause hearing has been held pursuant to subsections (2)(a) and (3)(a) of this section; or 2. The defendant has failed to appear at the show cause hearing as outlined in subsection (3)(b) of this section.	Other	All	No
Add to Dashboard + Create New	Kentucky	Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 534.070(1)	Incarceration for failure to pay fine or court costs or failure to appear in court; daily credit against fine or court costs for time served; application of partial payment	(1) A defendant who has been sentenced to jail for failure to pay court costs, fees, or fines or for failure to appear in court on a date set for + See more the sole purpose of addressing nonpayment of court costs, fees, or fines shall receive credit against the court costs, fees, or fines owed for each day the defendant spends in jail . . .	Incarceration	All	No
Add to Dashboard + Create New	Kentucky	Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 431.100	Withholding of money payable by Commonwealth to defendant in satisfaction of money judgment in criminal proceeding; fines and forfeitures go to Commonwealth; disposition of fines from offenses relating to alcohol + See more and to criminal littering; monetary . . .	When a money judgment is entered against a defendant in a criminal proceeding and each sum, or any part thereof, remains unpaid, there shall be withheld from any disbursement, payment, benefit, + See more compensation, salary, or other transfer of money from the Commonwealth of Kentucky to such defendant an amount equal to the unpaid amount of the judgment. Under no circumstances shall the general fund be used to reimburse court costs or pay for judgment.	Wage/bank account garnishment	All	Yes
Add to Dashboard + Create New	Kentucky	Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 534.020(1)	Methods of imposing fines; installment payment plan; determination of reason for defendant's default; show cause hearing; certain installment payments not to be reported as liquidated debt	When a defendant is sentenced to pay a fine, the court may provide for payment to be made within a specified period of time or in specified installments. If no + See more such provision is made a part of the sentence, then the fine shall be payable forthwith.	Payment plan/installment plan	All	No
Add to Dashboard + Create New	Massachusetts	Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 276, § 31	Default Warrant for Failure to Pay — Additional Fees — Payment to Court's Administrative Office.	Whenever a court issues a default warrant solely due to the person’s failure to pay a fine, assessment, court cost, restitution, support payment or other amount as ordered by the + See more court or required by law, the court shall specify the amount owed, including an additional assessment of $50 which assessment may be waived by the court upon a finding of good cause or upon a finding that such an assessment would cause a substantial financial hardship to the person, the person’s immediate family or the person’s dependents, with a statement that the warrant against the person may be discharged upon payment of the amount and the assessment, if any, and shall note the same in the warrant management system. The administrative office of the trial court shall accept payment of such fine, assessment, court cost, restitution, support payment or other amount as ordered by the court, along with any assessment, to be remitted by mail, telephone or other electronic means, in any form deemed acceptable by the trial court. Upon receipt of payment, the warrant against the person shall be discharged, the discharge shall be noted in the warrant management system and the individual shall receive notice of the discharge within seven days.	Incarceration, Increased fine	All	Yes
Add to Dashboard + Create New	Massachusetts	Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 276, § 32	Default Warrant for Failure to Pay — Additional Fees — Payment of Person Before Court.	Whenever a person, brought before a court, against whom an outstanding warrant was issued, solely due to the failure of the person brought before the court to pay a fine + See more assessment, court cost, restitution, support payment, or other amount, the court may accept payment of such amount and assess an additional fifty dollars which assessment may be waived by the court upon a finding of good cause and if the person is not being held on other process, the court may direct that the person be released from custody and shall notify the jurisdiction in which the warrant was issued of the payment and the assessment, if any. Upon notice of the release the court that issued the warrant shall recall the warrant and cause such information to be entered in the warrant management system.	Incarceration, Increased fine	All	No
Add to Dashboard + Create New	Massachusetts	Ma. Dist./Mun. Ct. R. Prob. Violation Rule 8(d)	Finding and disposition	After the court has entered a finding that a violation of probation has occurred, the court may order any of the following dispositions set forth below, as it deems appropriate. + See more These dispositional alternatives shall be the exclusive options available to the court. The court shall proceed to determine disposition promptly following the entry of a finding of violation. General continuances are prohibited. Awaiting the disposition of an underlying criminal charge shall not constitute such good cause for any continuance. In determining its disposition, the court shall give such weight as it may deem appropriate to the recommendation of the Probation Department, the probationer, and the District Attorney, if any, and to such factors as public safety; the circumstances of any crime for which the probationer was placed on probation; the nature of the probation violation; the occurrence of any previous violations; and the impact of the underlying crime on any person or community, as well as any mitigating factors. (i) Continuance of Probation. The court may decline to modify or revoke probation and, instead, issue to the probationer such admonition or instruction as it may deem appropriate. (ii) Termination. The court may terminate the probation order. (iii) Modification. The court may modify the conditions of probation. Such modification may include the addition of reasonable conditions and the extension of the duration of the probation order. (iv) Revocation, statement of reasons. The court may order that the order of probation be revoked. If the court orders revocation, it shall state the reasons therefor in writing.	Condition or extension of supervision	All	No
Add to Dashboard + Create New	Oregon	Or. Rev. Stat. § 1.005	Credit card transactions for fees, security deposits, fines and other court-imposed obligations; rules	The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court or the presiding judge of any judicial district of this state may establish by rule a program to permit the use of credit + See more card transactions as security deposits, fines, assessments, restitution or any other court-imposed monetary obligation arising out of an offense. The program may also provide for the use of credit card transactions to pay for filing fees, response fees, certification fees and any other fees charged by the court. Any rules adopted pursuant to this section may provide for recovery from the person using the credit card of an additional amount reasonably calculated to recover any charge to the court by a credit card company resulting from use of the credit card.	Other	All	No

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