50-State Criminal Justice Debt Reform Builder Bringing transparency to areas of significant legal complexity.
Poverty Penalties and Poverty Traps
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See all poverty penalty and poverty trap policy recommendations in CJPP’s Policy Guide
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Level of Offense
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.
12 Results
| State | Statute | Description/Statute Name | Statutory language | Type of poverty penalty or poverty trap | Level of offense | Mandatory | |
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Louisiana | LA Rev Stat §1381.2. | Orleans ParishSheriff's detention and prison security fee fund |
A. Any defendant, other than an indigent, who pleads guilty or is convicted of an offense by the Criminal District Court for the Parish of Orleans shall be assessed a + See morefee of not less than twenty-five dollars, such costs to be in addition to any fine, clerk's fees, costs due to the criminal court cost fund or sentence imposed by the court. When any defendant, other than an indigent, fails to pay the costs referred to hereinabove, he shall be sentenced to a term of thirty days in the parish prison in default of the payment of same.
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Incarceration | All | Yes |
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Louisiana | CCRP 884 | Sentence of fine with imprisonment for default |
If a sentence imposed includes a fine or costs, the sentence shall provide that in default of payment thereof the defendant shall be imprisoned for a specified period not to + See moreexceed one year; provided that where the maximum prison sentence which may be imposed as a penalty for a misdemeanor is six months or less, the total period of imprisonment upon conviction of the offense, including imprisonment for default in payment of a fine or costs, shall not exceed six months for that offense.
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Incarceration | All | No |
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Louisiana | CCRP 885 | fine and costs |
A defendant who has been imprisoned for default in the payment of a fine, or fine and costs, under a sentence imposed pursuant to Article 884, may, at any time + See morebefore expiration of the term of imprisonment, obtain his release by paying to his custodian all of the costs imposed and a sum of money that bears the same proportion to the imposed fine as the term of alternate imprisonment yet to run bears to the whole of such term of imprisonment.
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Incarceration | All | No |
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Louisiana | La. Stat. Ann. § 13:4611 | Contempt |
For any other contempt of court, including disobeying an order for the payment of child support or spousal support or an order for the right of custody or visitation, by + See morea fine of not more than five hundred dollars, or imprisonment for not more than three months, or both.
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Incarceration | All | No |
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Louisiana | LA Rev Stat §13:1377.A | Thirty day jail term |
A. Any defendant, other than an indigent, who pleads guilty or is convicted of an offense by the Criminal District Court for the Parish of Orleans shall be assessed + See morecosts of court not to exceed the sum of one hundred dollars, such costs to be in addition to any fine, clerk's fees or sentence imposed by the court. When any defendant, other than an indigent, fails to pay the costs referred to hereinabove, he shall be sentenced to a term of thirty days in the parish prison in default of the payment of same.
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Incarceration | All | Yes |
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Louisiana | LA REV Stat §30:2531.6.H(3) | Failure to pay fine for littering offense | His failure to appear at this second hearing could subject him to another charge of contempt of court along with the punishment of serving time in jail. | Incarceration | Misdemeanor | No |
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Illinois | 730 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/5-9-3(a)-(b) | Fines: Default |
(a) An offender who defaults in the payment of a fine or any installment of that fine may be held in contempt and imprisoned for nonpayment. The court may issue a summons for his appearance or a warrant of arrest.
(b) Unless the offender shows that his default was not due to his intentional refusal to pay, or not due to a failure on his part to make a good faith effort to pay, the court may order the offender imprisoned for a term not to exceed 6 months if the fine was for a felony, or 30 days if the fine was for a misdemeanor, a petty offense or a business offense. Payment of the fine at any time will entitle the offender to be released, but imprisonment under this Section shall not satisfy the payment of the fine. |
Incarceration | All | No |
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New Hampshire | N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 618:7 | Execution |
A writ of execution may be issued for any fine in a criminal case, notwithstanding the respondent may be committed or detained in a county correctional facility for nonpayment thereof, and if the fine is collected upon the execution, the convict shall not be further detained on account thereof.
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Incarceration | All | No |
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New Hampshire | N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 618:6 | Place of Committal |
Any person sentenced to pay a fine shall be ordered to be imprisoned until sentence is performed, or he or she is otherwise legally discharged, in the county correctional facility in which the crime was committed. This section shall not be construed as authorizing the confinement of any juvenile under the age of 17 years in a county correctional facility for the nonpayment of a fine.
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Incarceration | All | Yes |
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New Hampshire | N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 651:67(I) | Failure to Make Restitution |
Any offender who is sentenced to make restitution under RSA 651:63, and who purposely violates the court's order by either failing to make restitution or by defaulting in the payment or performance of the restitution authorized, may be prosecuted for contempt.
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Incarceration | All | No |
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New Hampshire | N.H. Rev. Stat. § 618:9 | Committal for Nonpayment; Term |
Whenever a person is committed to a county correctional facility in default of payment of a fine imposed by a justice of a superior court or a district court, he or she shall be discharged from custody by the superintendent thereof at the expiration of a number of days after the date of his or her commitment equal to one day for each $150 of the fine so imposed. The superintendent shall keep a record of all discharges made under the provisions of this section.
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Incarceration | All | No |
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New Hampshire | N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 618:8 | At End of Term, or on Payment of Balance |
Any person sentenced conditionally to pay a fine or to be imprisoned for a term shall be discharged at the expiration of the term, and may be discharged at any time on payment of the balance of the fine, after deducting $150 for each day such person has been imprisoned under the sentence.
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Incarceration | All | No |
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For more information, please visit cjpp.law.harvard.edu.