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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- Civil judgment (4)
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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.
33 Results
| State | Statute | Description/Statute Name | Statutory language | Type of poverty penalty or poverty trap | Level of offense | Mandatory | |
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Alaska | Alaska Stat. § 12.55.039(b) | Surcharge |
A court may not fail to impose the surcharge required under this section. The surcharge may not be waived, deferred, or suspended. A court may allow a defendant who is unable to pay the surcharge required to be imposed under this section to perform community work under AS 12.55.055(c) in lieu of the surcharge.
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Community service | All | No |
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Alaska | Alaska Stat. § 12.55.039(c) | Surcharge |
The surcharge shall be paid within 10 days of imposition or such shorter period of time as ordered by the court. Failure to pay the surcharge is punishable as contempt of court. Proceedings to collect the surcharge may be instituted by the state, the municipality, or by the court on its own motion.
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Civil judgment | All | Yes |
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Alaska | Alaska Stat. § 12.55.035(d) | Fines |
If a defendant is sentenced to pay a fine, the court may grant permission for the payment to be made within a specified period of time or in specified installments. |
Payment plan/installment plan | All | No |
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Missouri | Mo. Ann. Stat. § 488.503 | Contracting for collection of delinquent court-ordered payments authorized--fees added to amount due |
To collect on past-due court-ordered penalties, fines, restitution, sanctions, court costs, including restitution and juvenile monetary assessments, or judgments to the State of Missouri or one of its political subdivisions, any division of the circuit court may contract with public agencies or with private entities operating under a contract with a state agency or the office of state courts administrator. Any fees or costs associated with such collection efforts shall be added to the amount due, but such fees and costs shall not exceed twenty percent of the amount collected.
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Collection fee/interest | 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. § 546.902 | Ordinances, rules and regulations, enactment by municipalities in certain first class counties--penalty for violation, not to conflict with statute--place of imprisonment |
Any municipality located within any county of the first classification with a population in excess of nine hundred thousand, for any purpose or purposes mentioned in this chapter, may enact and make all necessary ordinances, rules and regulations; and they may enact and make all such ordinances and rules, not inconsistent with the laws of the state, as may be expedient for maintaining the peace and good government and welfare of the city and its trade and commerce; and all ordinances may be enforced by prescribing and inflicting upon its inhabitants, or other persons violating the same, such fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, and such imprisonment not exceeding three months, or both such fine and imprisonment, as may be just for any offense, recoverable with costs of suit, together with judgment of imprisonment, until the fine and costs are paid or satisfied; and any person committed for the nonpayment of fine and costs, or either, may be compelled to work out the same as herein provided; but, in any case wherein the penalty for an offense is fixed by any statute, the council shall affix the same penalty by ordinance for the punishment of such offense, except that imprisonments, when made under city ordinances, may be in the city prison or workhouse instead of the county jail.
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Civil judgment | 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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Missouri | Mo. Ann. Stat. § 559.100(3) | Circuit courts, power to place on probation or parole--revocation--conditions--restitution |
In addition to all other costs and fees allowed by law, each prosecuting attorney or circuit attorney who takes any action to collect restitution shall collect from the person paying restitution an administrative handling cost. The cost shall be twenty-five dollars for restitution of less than one hundred dollars and fifty dollars for restitution of at least one hundred dollars but less than two hundred fifty dollars. For restitution of two hundred fifty dollars or more an additional fee of ten percent of the total restitution shall be assessed, with a maximum fee for administrative handling costs not to exceed seventy-five dollars total.
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Collection fee/interest | All | No |
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Missouri | Mo. Ann. Stat. § 559.105 | Restitution may be ordered for tampering and stealing offenses--limitation on release from probation--payment |
1. Any person who has been found guilty of or has pled guilty to an offense may be ordered by the court to make restitution to the victim for the victim's losses due to such offense. Restitution pursuant to this section shall include, but not be limited to a victim's reasonable expenses to participate in the prosecution of the crime.
2. No person ordered by the court to pay restitution pursuant to this section shall be released from probation until such restitution is complete. If full restitution is not made within the original term of probation, the court shall order the maximum term of probation allowed for such offense. 3. Any person eligible to be released on parole shall be required, as a condition of parole, to make restitution pursuant to this section. The board of probation and parole shall not release any person from any term of parole for such offense until the person has completed such restitution, or until the maximum term of parole for such offense has been served. 4. The court may set an amount of restitution to be paid by the defendant. Said amount may be taken from the inmate's account at the department of corrections while the defendant is incarcerated. Upon conditional release or parole, if any amount of such court-ordered restitution is unpaid, the payment of the unpaid balance may be collected as a condition of conditional release or parole by the prosecuting attorney or circuit attorney under section 559.100. The prosecuting attorney or circuit attorney may refer any failure to make such restitution as a condition of conditional release or parole to the parole board for enforcement. |
Condition or extension of supervision | All | No |
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Missouri | Mo. Rev. Stat. § 600.089 | Parolees to pay for representation, when |
If the public defender commission has obtained a judgment against an offender in the custody of the department of corrections, and the offender is later paroled and becomes financially able to pay all or some part of such judgment, he shall be required, as a condition of his continued parole, to pay over to the public defender commission such amounts as he can reasonably pay, either by a single payment or by installments of reasonable amounts, in accordance with the schedule of charges for public defender services prepared pursuant to section 600.090.
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Condition or extension of supervision | All | No |
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Oregon | Or. Rev. Stat. § 137.540(12)(a) | Conditions of probation; evaluation and treatment; fees; effect of failure to abide by conditions; modification |
(12)(a) If the court determines that a defendant has violated the terms of probation, the court shall collect a $25 fee from the defendant and may impose a fee for the costs of extraditing the defendant to this state for the probation violation proceeding if the defendant left the state in violation of the conditions of the defendant’s probation. The fees imposed under this subsection become part of the judgment and may be collected in the same manner as a fine.
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Increased fine | All | No |
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Oregon | Or. Rev. Stat. § 137.540(1)(a),(7) | Conditions of probation; evaluation and treatment; fees; effect of failure to abide by conditions; modification |
(1) The court may sentence the defendant to probation subject to the following general conditions unless specifically deleted by the court. The probationer shall: (a) Pay supervision fees, fines, restitution or other fees ordered by the court.
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Condition or extension of supervision, Incarceration, Payment plan/installment plan | All | No |
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Oregon | Or. Rev. Stat. § 137.450 | Enforcement of money judgment in criminal action |
A judgment against the defendant or complainant in a criminal action, so far as it requires the payment of a fine, fee, assessment, costs and disbursements of the action or restitution, may be enforced as a judgment in a civil action.
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Civil judgment | All | No |
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Oregon | Or. Rev. Stat. § 135.891(2) | Required and permissive elements of diversion agreement; program fee |
(2) As a condition of entering into a diversion agreement under ORS 135.881 to 135.901, the defendant must pay a program fee of $100. The court may waive all or part of the fee in cases involving indigent defendants, or may provide for payment of the fee on an installment basis. A fee collected under this subsection in the circuit court shall be deposited by the clerk of the court in the Criminal Fine Account. If the fee is collected in a municipal or justice court, $35 of the fee shall be forwarded by the court to the Department of Revenue for deposit in the Criminal Fine Account, and the remainder of the fee shall be paid to the city or county treasurer.
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Payment plan/installment plan | All | No |
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Oregon | Or. Rev. Stat. § 137.118(3) | Assignment of judgment for collection of monetary obligation; costs |
(3) A municipal or justice court may add to any judgment in a criminal action that includes a monetary obligation a fee for the cost of collection if the court gives the defendant a period of time to pay the obligation after the date of imposition of the sentence or after the date of the hearing or proceeding that results in the imposition of the financial obligation. The fee may not exceed 25 percent of the monetary obligation imposed by the court without the addition of the cost of collection and may not be more than $250. The fee shall be waived or suspended by the court if the defendant pays the monetary obligation in the manner required by the court.
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Collection fee/interest | All | No |
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Oregon | Or. Rev. Stat. § 142.102(5)(a) | Conditions of post-prison supervision |
(5)(a) The board or supervisory authority may require the person to pay, as a condition of post-prison supervision, compensatory fines, restitution or attorney fees: |
Condition or extension of supervision | All | No |
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Texas | Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Art. 42A.751(a)(8)-(9) | Basic Discretionary Conditions |
The judge of the court having jurisdiction of the case shall determine the conditions of community supervision. The judge may impose any reasonable condition that is designed to protect or restore the community, protect or restore the victim, or punish, rehabilitate, or reform the defendant. Conditions of community supervision may include conditions requiring the defendant to:
(8) pay in one or more amounts: (A) the defendant’s fine, if one is assessed; and (B) all court costs, regardless of whether a fine is assessed; (9) support the defendant’s dependents |
Condition or extension of supervision | All | No |
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Texas | Tex. Gov't. Code § 76.015(c) | Reimbursement Fee |
(c) A department may assess a reasonable reimbursement fee of not less than $25 and not more than $60 per month on an individual who participates in a program operated by the department or receives services from the department and who is not paying a monthly reimbursement fee under Article 42A.652, Code of Criminal Procedure.
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Condition or extension of supervision | All | No |
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Texas | Tex. Gov't. Code § 76.017(e) | Treatment Alternative to Incarceration Program |
(e) A department may contract for the provision of treatment services. The department may pay for services only if other adequate public or private sources of payment are not available. A person is responsible for the payment of any treatment program recommended under this section if it is determined that a person referred for treatment is able to pay for the costs of treatment or if the person has insurance that will pay for the treatment. If a person is able to pay for treatment or if the person has insurance that will pay for the treatment, the payment may be made a condition for receiving treatment.
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Condition or extension of supervision | All | No |
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Texas | Tex. Gov't. Code § 103.021 | Additional Fees and Costs in Criminal or Civil Cases: Code of Criminal Procedure |
An accused or defendant, or a party to a civil suit, as applicable, shall pay the following fees and costs under the Code of Criminal Procedure if ordered by the court or otherwise required:
(2) cost of electronic monitoring as a condition of release on personal bond (Art. 17.43, Code of Criminal Procedure) ... actual cost; (3-a) costs associated with operating a global positioning monitoring system as a condition of release on bond (Art. 17.49(b)(2), Code of Criminal Procedure) ... actual costs, subject to a determination of indigency; (5) reimbursement to general revenue fund for payments made to victim of an offense as condition of community supervision (Art. 42A.301(17), Code of Criminal Procedure) ... not to exceed $50 for a misdemeanor offense or $100 for a felony offense; (10) additional community supervision fee for certain offenses (Art. 42A.653(a), Code of Criminal Procedure) ... $5 per month; |
Condition or extension of supervision | All | No |
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For more information, please visit cjpp.law.harvard.edu.