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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 (2)
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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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Hawaii | Haw. Rev. Stat. § 601-17.5 | Collection of delinquent court-ordered payments |
The judiciary may contract with a collection agency bonded under chapter 443B or with a licensed attorney to collect any delinquent court-ordered penalties, fines, restitution, sanctions, and court costs, including juvenile monetary assessments. Any fees or costs associated with the collection efforts shall be added to the amount due and retained by the collection agency as its payment; provided that no fees or costs shall exceed fifty per cent of the amount collected.
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Collection fee/interest | All | No |
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Hawaii | Haw. Rev. Stat. § 291C-171.5 | Collection of fines and costs |
(a) Unless discharged by payment or service of imprisonment in default of a fine, a fine may be collected in the same manner as a judgment in a civil action.(b) Costs may be collected in the same manner as a judgment in a civil action, but shall not be deemed part of the penalty, and no person shall be imprisoned under this section in default of payment of costs. (c) The state attorney general may institute proceedings to collect the fine, and costs, including interest and attorney's fees, as a civil judgment in the court of appropriate jurisdiction.
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Civil judgment | All | No |
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Hawaii | Haw. Rev. Stat. § 706-643(1) | Disposition of funds |
(1) The defendant shall pay a fine or any installment thereof to the cashier or clerk of the district or circuit court. In the event of default in payment, the clerk shall notify the prosecuting attorney and, if the defendant is on probation, the probation officer.
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Other | All | Yes |
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Hawaii | Haw. Rev. Stat. § 291D-10 | Restriction on driver's license and motor vehicle registration |
(a) When the person issued a notice of traffic infraction not involving parking fails to pay the total amount of fines, fees, surcharges, costs, or monetary assessments that has been ordered, the court shall cause an entry to be made in the driver's license record so as to prevent the person from acquiring or renewing the person's driver's license until the outstanding amount is paid or the notice of traffic infraction is otherwise disposed of pursuant to this chapter.(b) In all cases where the registered owner of a motor vehicle to which a notice of traffic infraction has been issued fails to pay the total amount of fines, fees, surcharges, costs, or monetary assessments that have been ordered, the court shall cause an entry to be made in the motor vehicle's record so as to prevent issuance or renewal of the motor vehicle's certificate of registration and transfer of title to the motor vehicle until the outstanding amount is paid or the notice of traffic infraction is otherwise disposed of pursuant to this chapter; provided that if the traffic infraction involves an unpaid parking violation, this subsection shall not prevent the issuance or renewal of the motor vehicle's certificate of registration and transfer of title to the motor vehicle to another person, in which case the clerk of the court shall issue a clearance to effectuate the registration and transfer of title; and provided further that in no event shall a clearance: (1) Absolve the registered owner of the motor vehicle at the time the parking violation was incurred from paying the fine; (2) Prevent any subsequent issuance or renewal of the motor vehicle's certificate of registration and transfer of title to the motor vehicle; or (3) Otherwise encumber the title of that motor vehicle.
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Driver's license suspension/impoundment | Traffic | Yes |
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Hawaii | Haw. Rev. Stat. § 291D-9(c) | Adjudication of Traffic Infractions: Monetary assessments |
(c) In addition to any monetary assessment imposed for a traffic infraction, the court may impose additional assessments for: (1) Failure to pay a monetary assessment by the scheduled date of payment; or (2) The cost of service of a penal summons issued pursuant to this chapter.
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Increased fine | Traffic | No |
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Hawaii | Haw. Rev. Stat. § 706-644(1) | Consequences of nonpayment; imprisonment for contumacious nonpayment; summary collection |
(1) When a defendant is sentenced pursuant to section 706-605, granted a conditional discharge pursuant to section 712-1255, or granted a deferred plea pursuant to chapter 853, and the defendant is ordered to pay a fee, fine, or restitution, whether as an independent order, as part of a judgment and sentence, or as a condition of probation or deferred plea, and the defendant defaults in the payment thereof or of any installment, the court, upon the motion of the prosecuting attorney or upon its own motion, may require the defendant to show cause why the defendant's default should not be treated as contumacious and may issue a summons or a warrant of arrest for the defendant's appearance. Unless the defendant shows that the defendant's default was not attributable to an intentional refusal to obey the order of the court, or to a failure on the defendant's part to make a good faith effort to obtain the funds required for the payment, the court shall find that the defendant's default was contumacious and may order the defendant committed until the fee, fine, restitution, or a specified part thereof is paid.
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Incarceration | All | No |
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Hawaii | Haw. Rev. Stat. § 706-644(4) | Consequences of nonpayment; imprisonment for contumacious nonpayment; summary collection |
(4) If it appears that the defendant's default in the payment of a fee, fine, or restitution is not contumacious, the court may make an order allowing the defendant additional time for payment, reducing the amount of each installment, or revoking the fee, fine, or the unpaid portion thereof in whole or in part, or converting the unpaid portion of the fee or fine to community service. A defendant shall not be discharged from an order to pay restitution until the full amount of the restitution has actually been collected or accounted for.
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Community service | All | No |
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Hawaii | Haw. Rev. Stat. § 706-644(5) | Consequences of nonpayment; imprisonment for contumacious nonpayment; summary collection |
(5) Unless discharged by payment or, in the case of a fee or fine, service of imprisonment pursuant to subsection (3), an order to pay a fee, fine, or restitution, whether as an independent order, as a part of a judgment and sentence, or as a condition of probation or deferred plea pursuant to chapter 853, may be collected in the same manner as a judgment in a civil action. The State or the victim named in the order may collect the restitution, including costs, interest, and attorney's fees, pursuant to section 706-646. The State may collect the fee or fine, including costs, interest, and attorney's fees pursuant to section 706-647.
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Civil judgment | All | No |
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Hawaii | Haw. Rev. Stat. § 706-642(2) | Time and method of payment |
(2) When a defendant sentenced to pay a fine is also sentenced to probation, the court may make the payment of the fine a condition of probation. |
Condition or extension of supervision | All | No |
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Hawaii | Haw. Rev. Stat. § 706-644(3) | Consequences of nonpayment; imprisonment for contumacious nonpayment; summary collection |
(3) The term of imprisonment for nonpayment of fee, fine, or restitution shall be specified in the order of commitment, and shall not exceed one day for each $25 of the fee or fine, thirty days if the fee or fine was imposed upon conviction of a violation or a petty misdemeanor, or one year in any other case, whichever is the shorter period. A person committed for nonpayment of a fee or fine shall be given credit toward payment of the fee or fine for each day of imprisonment, at the rate of $25 per day.
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Incarceration | All | No |
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Hawaii | Haw. Rev. Stat. § 706-630 | Probation: Discharge of defendant |
Upon the termination of the period of the probation or the earlier discharge of the defendant, the defendant shall be relieved of any obligations imposed by the order of the court and shall have satisfied the disposition of the court, except as to any action under this chapter to collect unpaid fines, restitution, attorney’s fees, costs, or interest.
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Condition or extension of supervision | Misdemeanor, Felony | No |
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Minnesota | Minn. Stat. Ann. § 609.101(5)(c) | Surcharge on Fines, Assessments; Minimum Fines |
The court also may authorize payment of the fine in installments. |
Payment plan/installment plan | All | No |
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Minnesota | Minn. Stat. Ann. § 609.135(1)(d),(1a) | Stay of Imposition or Execution of Sentence |
(d) If the court orders a fine, day-fine, or restitution as an intermediate sanction, payment is due on the date imposed unless the court otherwise establishes a due date or a payment plan.
Subd. 1a. Failure to pay restitution. If the court orders payment of restitution as a condition of probation and if the defendant fails to pay the restitution in accordance with the payment schedule or structure established by the court or the probation officer, the prosecutor or the defendant's probation officer may, on the prosecutor's or the officer's own motion or at the request of the victim, ask the court to hold a hearing to determine whether or not the conditions of probation should be changed or probation should be revoked. The defendant's probation officer shall ask for the hearing if the restitution ordered has not been paid prior to 60 days before the term of probation expires. The court shall schedule and hold this hearing and take appropriate action, including action under subdivision 2, paragraph (g), before the defendant's term of probation expires. Nothing in this subdivision limits the court's ability to refer the case to collections under section 609.104 when a defendant fails to pay court-ordered restitution. |
Condition or extension of supervision | All | No |
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Minnesota | Minn. Stat. Ann. § 480.15(10c)(c) | State Court Administrator: Powers and Duties |
As determined by the state court administrator, collection costs shall be added to the debts referred to a public or private collection entity for collection. |
Collection fee/interest | All | No |
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Minnesota | Minn. Stat. Ann. § 609.3455(8)(c) | Dangerous sex offenders; life sentences; conditional release |
If the offender fails to meet any condition of release, the commissioner may revoke the offender's conditional release and order that the offender serve all or a part of the remaining portion of the conditional release term in prison. An offender, while on supervised release, is not entitled to credit against the offender's conditional release term for time served in confinement for a violation of release.
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Condition or extension of supervision, Incarceration | All | No |
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Minnesota | Minn. Stat. Ann. § 628.29(4) | Pretrial diversion program for writers of dishonored checks |
Program components. (a) At a minimum, the pretrial diversion program must require offenders to: on writing checks and managing money;
(2) make full restitution to the victim of the offense; and (3) pay appropriate penalties under section 604.113, subdivision 2, paragraph (a). |
Condition or extension of supervision | All | No |
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Minnesota | M.S.A. § 609.135(1) | Stay of imposition or execution of sentence |
Except when a sentence of life imprisonment is required by law, or when a mandatory minimum sentence is required by section 609.11, any court may stay imposition or execution of sentence and:
(1) may order intermediate sanctions without placing the defendant on probation; or (2) may place the defendant on probation with or without supervision and on the terms the court prescribes, including intermediate sanctions when practicable . . . (b) For purposes of this subdivision, subdivision 6, and section 609.14, the term “intermediate sanctions” includes but is not limited to incarceration in a local jail or workhouse, home detention, electronic monitoring, intensive probation, sentencing to service, reporting to a day reporting center, chemical dependency or mental health treatment or counseling, restitution, fines, day-fines, community work service, work service in a restorative justice program, work in lieu of or to work off fines and, with the victim's consent, work in lieu of or to work off restitution. |
Condition or extension of supervision | All | No |
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Washington DC | DC ST § 16-706 | Enforcement of judgments; commitment upon non-payment of fine |
The Superior Court may enforce any of its judgments rendered in criminal cases by fine or imprisonment, or both. Except as otherwise provided by law, and subject to the relief + See moreprovided in section 3569 of title 18, United States Code, in any case where the court imposes a fine, the court may, in the event of default in the payment of the fine imposed, commit the defendant for a term not to exceed one year.
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Incarceration | All | No |
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Washington DC | DC ST § 50-2301.05 | Monetary sanctions and fees (Traffic Adjudication) |
(2) In addition to the civil fine, the following penalties may be imposed:(A) In the case of a person receiving a notice of infraction who fails to answer such notice + See morewithin the time specified by § 50-2302.05(d)(1) and § 50-2303.05(d)(1), a penalty equal to the amount of the civil fine;
(B) In the case of a person receiving a notice of infraction who fails to answer such notice by the close of business on the date set for the hearing or who answers but fails without good cause to appear at such hearing, with respect to infractions under subchapter II of this chapter, a penalty equal to twice the amount of the civil fine and, with respect to infractions under subchapter III of this chapter, a penalty equal to the amount of the civil fine plus $5.
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Increased fine | Traffic | No |
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Washington DC | DC ST § 11-741 | Contempt powers (DC Court of Appeals) |
(a) Subject to the limitation described in subsection (b), and in addition to the powers conferred by section 402 of title 18, United States Code, the District of Columbia Court + See moreof Appeals, or a judge thereof, may punish for disobedience of an order or for contempt committed in the presence of the court....
(3)(A) An individual imprisoned for 6 consecutive months for civil contempt for disobedience of an order in a proceeding described in paragraph (1) who continues to disobey such order may be prosecuted for criminal contempt for disobedience of such order at any time before the expiration of the 12-month period that begins on the first day of such individual's imprisonment, except that an individual so imprisoned as of the date of the enactment of this subsection may be prosecuted under this subsection at any time during the 90-day period that begins on the date of the enactment of this subsection.
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Incarceration | All | No |
The Criminal Justice Debt Reform Builder is a project of the National Criminal Justice Debt Initiative of the Criminal Justice Policy Program at Harvard Law School in collaboration with the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University and with user experience design by metaLAB (at) Harvard.
For more information, please visit cjpp.law.harvard.edu.