Poverty Penalties and Poverty Traps

Keyword search across all of the laws in the states. Subject-area tabs above allow you to narrow results. Click the advanced search for further refinement.

Every law can be saved to the Reform Builder  

See all poverty penalty and poverty trap policy recommendations in CJPP’s Policy Guide

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.

6 Results

Export results to Excel

State Statute Description/Statute Name Statutory language Type of poverty penalty or poverty trap Level of offense Mandatory
BS-+-Light-Rounded-Square
Add to Dashboard

+ Create New

New Jersey N.J. Stat. Ann. § 2B:12-23 Community Service
a. A person, sentenced by a municipal court to pay a fine, who defaults in payment may be ordered to perform community service in lieu of incarceration or other modification
+ See more
of the sentence with the person's consent. b. The county or municipal official in charge of the community service program shall report to the municipal court any failure of a person subject to a court work order to report for work or to perform the assigned work. Upon receipt of the report, the court may revoke its community service order and impose any sentence consistent with the original sentence.
Community service All No
BS-+-Light-Rounded-Square
Add to Dashboard

+ Create New

New Jersey N.J. Stat. Ann. § 2C:46-2 Consequences of Nonpayment
When a defendant sentenced to make restitution to a public entity other than the Victims of Crime Compensation Office, defaults in the payment thereof or any installment, the court may, in lieu of
+ See more
other modification of the sentence, order the defendant to perform work in a labor assistance program or enforced community service program.
Community service All No
BS-+-Light-Rounded-Square
Add to Dashboard

+ Create New

South Carolina S.C. Code Ann. §22-3-800 Community service
Notwithstanding the limitations of Sections 17-25-100 and 24-21-410, after a conviction or plea for an offense within a magistrate's jurisdiction the magistrate at the time of sentence may suspend the
+ See more
imposition or execution of a sentence upon terms and conditions the magistrate considers appropriate, including imposing or suspending up to one hundred hours of community service, except where the amount of community service is established otherwise.
Community service All No
BS-+-Light-Rounded-Square
Add to Dashboard

+ Create New

South Carolina S.C. Code Ann. § 16-11-700(C)(3) Public service in lieu of payment
(3) The court, instead of payment of the monetary fine imposed for a violation of this section, may direct the substitution of additional litter-gathering labor or other form of public
+ See more
service, under the supervision of the court, as it may order because of physical or other incapacities not to exceed one hour for each five dollars of fine imposed.
Community service Misdemeanor No
BS-+-Light-Rounded-Square
Add to Dashboard

+ Create New

West Virginia W. Va. Code § 62-11A-1a(a)(3) Other sentencing alternatives.

Any person who has been convicted in a circuit court or in a magistrate court under any criminal provision of this code of a misdemeanor or felony, which is punishable

+ See more
by imposition of a fine or confinement in a regional jail or a state correctional institution, or both fine and confinement, may, in the discretion of the sentencing judge or magistrate, as an alternative to the sentence imposed by statute for the crime, be sentenced under one of the following programs: (3) The community service program under which a sentenced person would spend no time in jail, but would be sentenced to a number of hours or days of community service work with government entities or charitable or nonprofit entities approved by the circuit court. Regarding any portion of the sentence designated as confinement, eight hours of community service work is to be credited as one day of the sentence imposed. Regarding any portion of the sentence designated as a fine, the fine is to be credited at an hourly rate equal to the prevailing federal minimum wage at the time the sentence was imposed. In the discretion of the court, the sentence credits may run concurrently or consecutively. A person sentenced under this program may be required to provide his or her own transportation to and from the work site, lunch and work clothes.

Community service All No
BS-+-Light-Rounded-Square
Add to Dashboard

+ Create New

West Virginia W. Va. Code § 62-4-16 Community service work may be substituted in lieu of a fine in municipal court

(a) Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the contrary, a municipal judge may substitute in lieu of the imposition of a sentence of incarceration or imposition of a fine,

+ See more
substitute community service work for such incarceration or fine. Where community service work is ordered as a substitute on a sentence of incarceration an eight hour work day shall extinguish one day of any sentence of incarceration. The minimum wage established by the prevailing federal minimum wage in effect at the time of sentencing is imposed shall be used to compute the amount of community service work necessary to extinguish the fine. In the discretion of the court, the sentence credits may run concurrently or consecutively.(b) Any community service ordered pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be performed for government entities or charitable or nonprofit entities and be supervised by the chief of police of the municipality or his or her designee.

(c) Persons sentenced under the provisions of this section remain under the jurisdiction of the municipal court. The court may withdraw the community service sentence at any time by order entered with or without notice and order a person previously sentenced to community service to serve the term of incarceration or to pay the fine available to the court upon the person's conviction: Provided, That any community service work performed before the community service sentence is withdrawn shall be credited against any term of incarceration or fine imposed.

Community service All No