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Poverty Penalties and Poverty Traps
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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.
23 Results
| State | Statute | Description/Statute Name | Statutory language | Type of poverty penalty or poverty trap | Level of offense | Mandatory | |
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Alabama | Ala.Code 1975 § 14-4-10 | Hard labor; additional sentence |
Whenever any convict is sentenced by the court and required to do hard labor for the county, an additional sentence not to exceed 10 months in any case for the payment of costs of conviction may be imposed, and the court must determine a reasonable time required to work out such costs. The costs of conviction of county convicts shall be the same as provided by law now in force in the respective counties.
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Incarceration | All | No |
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Alabama | Ala.Code 1975 § 15-18-62 | Costs and Fines: willful nonpayment by defendant |
In cases of willful nonpayment of the fine and costs, the defendant shall either be imprisoned in the county jail or, at the discretion of the court, sentenced to hard labor for the county as follows:(1) If the fine and costs do not exceed two hundred fifty dollars ($250), no more than 10 days; (2) If the fine and costs exceed two hundred fifty dollars ($250) but do not exceed five hundred dollars ($500), no more than 20 days; (3) If the fine and costs exceed five hundred dollars ($500), but do not exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000), no more than 30 days; and (4) For every additional one hundred dollars ($100) or fractional part thereof, 4 days.
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Incarceration | All | Yes |
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Missouri | Mo. Ann. Stat. § 476.120 | Punishment for contempt |
Punishment for contempt may be by fine or imprisonment in the jail of the county where the court may be sitting, or both, in the discretion of the court. |
Incarceration, Increased fine | All | No |
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Missouri | Mo. Ann. Stat. § 488.020 | Collection of court costs, when, how |
Upon notification to the party from whom the fee is due, a failure to pay the fee after such notice, and a showing of the party's ability to pay the fee, the court may hold the party in contempt.
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Incarceration, Increased fine, Other | All | No |
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Missouri | Mo. Rev. Stat. § 488.020(3)-(4) | Collection of court costs, when, how |
The supreme court may provide by rule for imposition of interest on any court costs not paid within thirty days of when due. If any court cost is not paid when due, the following actions may be taken:
(3) Upon notification to the party from whom the court cost is due, and upon failure to pay the fee after such notice, the court may inform the office of administration of any delinquencies in excess of twenty-five dollars. Upon receiving such notice, and without further notice by the office of administration to the defaulting party, the office of administration shall deduct the amount of unpaid court costs from any payment by the state to the defaulting party under any provision of law. The office of administration shall transmit the amount set off to the court, and shall send the excess amount to the payee, with a notice that the remainder of the refund was transmitted to the court in satisfaction of all or part of the unpaid court costs. The office of administration and its officials and employees shall not be liable to any person for any action taken in accordance with the requirements of this subdivision. Any proceeding contesting any action taken by a court or the office of administration pursuant to this subdivision shall be brought in the court which certified such unpaid fees to the office of administration, and shall be deemed ancillary to the proceeding for which such unpaid fees were assessed. No appearance, responsive pleading or discovery shall be due from the office of administration in such proceeding except upon order of the court; (4) Upon notification to the party from whom the fee is due, a failure to pay the fee after such notice, and a showing of the party's ability to pay the fee, the court may hold the party in contempt.
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Collection fee/interest, Incarceration, Increased fine, Other, Wage/bank account garnishment | All | No |
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Missouri | Mo. Const. Art. 1, § 11 | Imprisonment for debt |
That no person shall be imprisoned for debt, except for nonpayment of fines and penalties imposed by law. |
Incarceration | All | No |
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Missouri | Mo. Ann. Stat. § 600.090(2)(1) | Determination of ability to pay all or part of representation costs--lien for reasonable value of services, procedure--deposit of funds collected |
The reasonable value of the services rendered to a defendant pursuant to sections 600.011 to 600.048 and 600.086 to 600.096 may in all cases be a lien on any and all property to which the defendant shall have or acquire an interest. The public defender shall effectuate such lien whenever the reasonable value of the services rendered to a defendant appears to exceed one hundred fifty dollars and may effectuate such lien where the reasonable value of those services appears to be less than one hundred fifty dollars.
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Property liens | All | No |
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Missouri | Mo. Ann. Stat. § 558.006(5) | Response to nonpayment |
Upon default in the payment of a fine or any installment thereof, the fine may be collected by any means authorized for the enforcement of money judgments. |
Incarceration, Property liens, Wage/bank account garnishment | All | No |
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Missouri | Mo. Ann. Stat. § 545.02 | Recovery of fine or forfeiture, how |
Whenever a fine, penalty or forfeiture is or may be inflicted by any statute of this state for any offense, the same may be recovered by indictment or information, notwithstanding another or different remedy for the recovery of the same may be specified in the law imposing the fine, penalty or forfeiture; provided, that in all cases the fine, penalty or forfeiture shall go to the state, county, corporation, person or persons to whom the law imposing the same declares it shall accrue.
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Incarceration, Increased fine | All | No |
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Missouri | Mo. Ann. Stat. § 546.86 | All property bound for fine and costs |
The property, real and personal, of any person charged with a criminal offense, shall be bound from the time of his final conviction of such offense, for the payment of all fines and costs which he may be adjudged to pay.
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Property liens | All | No |
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Oklahoma | Okla. Stat. tit. 22, § 1355.14D | Payment of costs of representation--Fee schedule |
Any order directing the defendant to pay costs of representation shall be a lien against all real and personal property of the defendant and may be filed against such property + See moreand foreclosed as provided by law for civil liens.
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Property liens | All | Yes |
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Oklahoma | 22 Okl.St.Ann. § 983A | Imprisonment or recommendation of suspension of driving privileges for failure to pay fines, costs, fees, or assessments--Hearing--Installments |
Any defendant found guilty of an offense in any court of this state may be imprisoned for nonpayment of the fine, cost, fee, or assessment when the trial court finds + See moreafter notice and hearing that the defendant is financially able but refuses or neglects to pay the fine, cost, fee, or assessment. A sentence to pay a fine, cost, fee, or assessment may be converted into a jail sentence only after a hearing and a judicial determination, memorialized of record, that the defendant is able to satisfy the fine, cost, fee, or assessment by payment, but refuses or neglects so to do.
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Incarceration | All | No |
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Oklahoma | 28 Okl.St.Ann. § 101 | Fees and costs in criminal cases part of penalty--Enforcement by imprisonment--Persons unable to pay |
The fees herein provided for the clerk of the district court and the sheriff, as provided in this act, and all costs in the prosecution of all criminal actions shall, + See morein case of conviction of the defendant, be adjudged a part of the penalty of the offense of which the defendant may be convicted, whether the punishment for such offense be either imprisonment, or fine, or both, and fixed either by the verdict of the jury, or judgment of the court, trying the case, and if the defendant shall refuse to pay the fine, fees or costs, the payment of such fees and costs, in addition to the payment of the fine assessed, shall be enforced by imprisonment until the same shall be satisfied at a rate of Twenty-five Dollars ($25.00) per day of such fees and costs, or fine, or both, or shall be satisfied at a rate of Fifty Dollars ($50.00) per day of such fees and costs, or fine, or both, should the defendant perform useful labor. If the defendant is without means to pay the fine, fees or costs, the total amount owed shall be entered upon the judgment docket and thereupon the same remedies shall be available for the enforcement of said judgment as are available to any other judgment creditor.The term all costs in the prosecution of all criminal actions, as used in this section, shall include only the following taxable items:
1. Court clerk's costs and fees authorized by statute;
2. Sheriff's fees;
3. Fees and mileage of witnesses; and
4. Cost deposits in the appellate court, whether on appeal, in an original proceeding or in any postconviction challenge, if waived on the basis of a pauper's affidavit.
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Incarceration | All | Yes |
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Oklahoma | Okla. Stat. tit. 11, § 27-122 | Enforcement of payment of fines or costs by imprisonment--Persons unable to pay |
A. If a defendant who is financially able refuses or neglects to pay a fine or costs or both, payment may be enforced:1. By imprisonment until the same shall be + See moresatisfied at the rate of Twenty-five Dollars ($25.00) per day; or
2. In the same manner as is prescribed in subsection B of this section for a defendant who is without means to make such payment.
B. If the defendant is without means to pay the fine or costs, the municipal judge may direct the total amount due to be entered upon the court minutes and to be certified to the district court in the county where the situs of the municipal government is located, where it shall be entered upon the district court judgment docket and shall have the full force and effect of a district court judgment. The same remedies shall be available for the enforcement of the judgment as are available to any other judgment creditor.
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Incarceration | All | No |
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Oklahoma | Okla. Stat. tit. 11, § 28-123 | Execution of sentence--Modification, reduction or suspension--Probation--Deferred sentence |
. All sentences of imprisonment shall be executed by the chief of police of the city, and any person convicted of a violation of any ordinance of the city and + See moresentenced to imprisonment shall be confined in the jail, farm or workhouse, of the city, in the discretion of the court, for the time specified in the sentence. All persons who shall be convicted in the court of violation of any ordinance of the city and sentenced to pay a fine and costs, who shall refuse to pay such fine or costs, shall be imprisoned in the jail of the city for one (1) day for each Two Dollars ($2.00) of the fine and costs assessed.
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Incarceration | All | No |
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Wyoming | Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6-10-105 | Commitment for refusal to pay fine or costs; rate per day |
A person committed to jail for willfully refusing to pay a fine or costs may be imprisoned if the court determines that the defendant has an ability to pay or that a reasonable probability exists that the defendant will have an ability to pay, until the imprisonment, at the rate of fifteen dollars ($15.00) per day, equals the amount of the fine or costs, or the amount shall be paid or secured to be paid when he is discharged.
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Incarceration | All | No |
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Wyoming | Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 7-11-504 | Commitment until fine and costs paid |
If a defendant sentenced to pay a fine or costs defaults in payment, the court may order the defendant to show cause why he should not be committed to jail. If the court finds that the defendant's default is willful or is due to a failure on defendant's part to make a good faith effort to obtain the funds required for the payment and the court determines that the defendant has an ability to pay or that a reasonable probability exists that the defendant will have an ability to pay, the court may order him committed until the fine or costs, or a specified part thereof, is paid. The defendant shall be given a credit for each day of imprisonment at the rate provided by W.S. 6 10 105, and may earn additional credits against his fine or costs for work performed as provided by W.S. 7 16 101 through 7 16 104.
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Incarceration | All | No |
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Wyoming | Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6-10-105 | Commitment for refusal to pay fine or costs; rate per day |
A person committed to jail for willfully refusing to pay a fine or costs may be imprisoned if the court determines that the defendant has an ability to pay or that a reasonable probability exists that the defendant will have an ability to pay, until the imprisonment, at the rate of fifteen dollars ($15.00) per day, equals the amount of the fine or costs, or the amount shall be paid or secured to be paid when he is discharged.
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Incarceration | All | No |
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Wyoming | Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6-6-207 | Assessment of tax when permanent injunction issues; collection; continuing liability for other penalties |
Whenever a permanent injunction issues against any person for maintaining a nuisance or against the owner or agent of any building kept or used for the purposes prohibited by this article, there shall be assessed against the building and the ground upon which it is located and against the person or persons maintaining the nuisance, and the owner or agent of the premises, a tax of three hundred dollars ($300.00). The assessment of the tax shall be made by the assessor of the county in which the nuisance exists and shall be made within three (3) months from the date of granting of the permanent injunction. If the assessor fails or neglects to make the assessment, it shall be made by the sheriff of the county and a return of the assessment shall be made to the county treasurer. The tax may be enforced and collected in the manner prescribed for the collection of taxes under the general revenue laws and shall be a perpetual lien upon all property, both personal and real used for the purpose of maintaining the nuisance. The payment of the tax does not relieve the person or building from any other penalties provided by law and when collected shall be applied and distributed in the manner prescribed by law for the application and distribution of monies arising from the collection of fines and penalties in criminal cases.
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Collection fee/interest, Property liens | All | Yes |
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Wyoming | Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 7-9-109 | Failure to comply; modification or extension of plan |
Failure of the defendant to comply with W.S. 7 9 104 or to comply with the plan of restitution as approved or modified by the court is a violation of the conditions of probation. If the probation period has expired, the restitution order may be enforced by either civil or criminal contempt proceedings. Criminal contempt under this section is punishable by imprisonment for not more than one (1) year. The court may modify the plan of restitution or extend the period of time for restitution, but, except for those cases falling within the provisions of W.S. 7 9 113 through 7 9 115, the court may not extend the period of time for restitution beyond ten (10) years following the date of the defendant's discharge from sentence or expiration of probation under W.S. 7 13 301.
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Incarceration | All | No |
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For more information, please visit cjpp.law.harvard.edu.