Poverty Penalties and Poverty Traps

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State Statute Description/Statute Name Statutory language Type of poverty penalty or poverty trap Level of offense Mandatory
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Texas Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Art. 42A.607 Disposition of Salary

If a defendant who is required as a condition of community supervision to serve a term of confinement under this subchapter is not required by the judge to deliver the

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defendant’s salary to the restitution center director, the employer of the defendant shall deliver the salary to the director. The director shall deposit the salary into a fund to be given to the defendant on release after the director deducts:

(1) the cost to the center for the defendant’s food, housing, and supervision;

(2) the necessary expense for the defendant’s travel to and from work and community service projects, and other incidental expenses of the defendant;

(3) support of the defendant’s dependents; and

(4) restitution to the victims of an offense committed by the defendant

Wage/bank account garnishment All Yes
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Texas Tex. Gov't Code Sec. 501.014(a),(e)(2),(4)-(6) Inmate Money

(a) The department shall take possession of all money that an inmate has on the inmate’s person or that is received with the inmate when the inmate arrives at a facility

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to be admitted to the custody of the department and all money the inmate receives at the department during confinement and shall credit the money to an account created for the inmate . . .

(e) On notification by a court, the department shall withdraw from an inmate’s account any amount the inmate is ordered to pay by order of the court under this subsection. On receipt of a valid court order requiring an inmate to pay child support, the department shall withdraw the appropriate amount from the inmate’s account under this subsection, regardless of whether the court order is provided by the court or another person. The department shall make a payment under this subsection as ordered by the court to either the court or the party specified in the court order. The department is not liable for withdrawing or failing to withdraw money or making payments or failing to make payments under this subsection. The department shall make withdrawals and payments from an inmate’s account under this subsection according to the following schedule of priorities: . . . (2) as payment in full for all orders for restitution . . . (4) as payment in full for all orders for court fees and costs; (5) as payment in full for all orders for fines; and (6) as payment in full for any other court order, judgment, or writ.

Wage/bank account garnishment All Yes
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Texas Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Art. 42A.607 Disposition of Salary

If a defendant who is required as a condition of community supervision to serve a term of confinement under this subchapter is not required by the judge to deliver the

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defendant’s salary to the restitution center director, the employer of the defendant shall deliver the salary to the director. The director shall deposit the salary into a fund to be given to the defendant on release after the director deducts: (1) the cost to the center for the defendant’s food, housing, and supervision; (2) the necessary expense for the defendant’s travel to and from work and community service projects, and other incidental expenses of the defendant; (3) support of the defendant’s dependents; and (4) restitution to the victims of an offense committed by the defendant.

Wage/bank account garnishment All Yes
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Washington Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 10.82.080 Unlawful receipt of public assistance — Deduction from subsequent assistance payments — Restitution payments

(1) When a superior court has, as a condition of the sentence for a person convicted of the unlawful receipt of public assistance, ordered restitution to the state of that

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overpayment or a portion thereof: (a) The department of social and health services shall deduct the overpayment from subsequent assistance payments as provided in RCW 43.20B.630, when the person is receiving public assistance; or (b) Ordered restitution payments may be made at the direction of the court to the clerk of the appropriate county or directly to the department of social and health services when the person is not receiving public assistance.

Wage/bank account garnishment All Yes
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Washington Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 7.68.120(2) Reimbursement — Restitution to victim — Notice — Fees — Order to withhold and deliver — Limitation

(2) (a) The department may issue a notice of debt due and owing to the person found to have committed the criminal act, and shall serve the notice on the person in

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the manner prescribed for the service of a summons in a civil action or by certified mail. The department shall file the notice of debt due and owing along with proof of service with the superior court of the county where the criminal act took place. The person served the notice shall have thirty days from the date of service to respond to the notice by requesting a hearing in superior court.

(b) If a person served a notice of debt due and owing fails to respond within thirty days, the department may seek a default judgment. Upon entry of a judgment in an action brought pursuant to (a) of this subsection, the clerk shall enter the order in the execution docket. The filing fee shall be added to the amount of the debt indicated in the judgment. The judgment shall become a lien upon all real and personal property of the person named in the judgment as in other civil cases. The judgment shall be subject to execution, garnishment, or other procedures for collection of a judgment.

Civil judgment, Property liens, Wage/bank account garnishment All No
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Washington Wash. Rev. Code Ann. § 9.94A.760(1),(5),(10) Legal financial obligations

(1) Whenever a person is convicted in superior court, the court may order the payment of a legal financial obligation as part of the sentence. The court may not order an

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offender to pay costs as described in RCW 10.01.160 if the court finds that the offender at the time of sentencing is indigent as defined in RCW 10.101.010(3) (a) through (c). An offender being indigent as defined in RCW 10.101.010(3) (a) through (c) is not grounds for failing to impose restitution or the crime victim penalty assessment under RCW 7.68.035. The court must on either the judgment and sentence or on a subsequent order to pay, designate the total amount of a legal financial obligation and segregate this amount among the separate assessments made for restitution, costs, fines, and other assessments required by law. On the same order, the court is also to set a sum that the offender is required to pay on a monthly basis towards satisfying the legal financial obligation. If the court fails to set the offender monthly payment amount, the department shall set the amount if the department has active supervision of the offender, otherwise the county clerk shall set the amount.

(5) . . . For an offense committed on or after July 1, 2000, the court shall retain jurisdiction over the offender, for purposes of the offender’s compliance with payment of the legal financial obligations, until the obligation is completely satisfied, regardless of the statutory maximum for the crime. The department may only supervise the offender’s compliance with payment of the legal financial obligations during any period in which the department is authorized to supervise the offender in the community under RCW 9.94A.728, 9.94A.501, or in which the offender is confined in a state correctional institution or a correctional facility pursuant to a transfer agreement with the department, and the department shall supervise the offender’s compliance during any such period.

(10) The department or any obligee of the legal financial obligation may seek a mandatory wage assignment for the purposes of obtaining satisfaction for the legal financial obligation pursuant to RCW 9.94A.7701. Any party obtaining a wage assignment shall notify the county clerk. The county clerks shall notify the department, or the administrative office of the courts, whichever is providing the monthly billing for the offender.

(11) The requirement that the offender pay a monthly sum towards a legal financial obligation constitutes a condition or requirement of a sentence and the offender is subject to the penalties for noncompliance as provided in RCW 9.94B.040, 9.94A.737, or 9.94A.740. If the court determines that the offender is homeless or a person who is mentally ill, as defined in RCW 71.24.025, failure to pay a legal financial obligation is not willful noncompliance and shall not subject the offender to penalties.

Incarceration, Payment plan/installment plan, Wage/bank account garnishment All Yes