Poverty Penalties and Poverty Traps

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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.

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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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 Iowa Iowa Code § 909.5 Nonpayment of fines and court costs — contempt

A person who is able to pay a fine, court-imposed court costs for a criminal proceeding, or both, or an installment of the fine or the court-imposed court costs, or

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both, and who refuses to do so, or who fails to make a good faith effort to pay the fine, court costs, or both, or any installment thereof, shall be held in contempt of court.

 Incarceration All Yes
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 Iowa Iowa Code § 665.5 Contempts: Imprisonment

If the contempt consists in an omission to perform an act which is yet in the power of the person to perform, the person may be imprisoned until the person

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performs it. In that case the act to be performed must be specified in the warrant of the commitment.

 Incarceration All No
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 Iowa Iowa Code § 910.5(4)(b) Condition of work release or parole

If an offender is to be placed on parole, restitution shall be a condition of parole.

b. After the expiration of the offender’s sentence, the failure of an offender to comply with

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the plan of restitution ordered by the court shall constitute contempt of court.

 Incarceration All Yes
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 Iowa Iowa Code § 321.210A(1) Suspension for failure to pay fine, surcharge, or costs

1. The department shall suspend the driver’s license of a person who, upon conviction of violating a law regulating the operation of a motor vehicle, has failed to pay the criminal

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fine or penalty, surcharge, or court costs, as follows:

a. Upon the failure of a person to timely pay the fine, penalty, surcharge, or court costs the clerk of the district court shall notify the person by regular mail that if the fine, penalty, surcharge, or court costs remain unpaid after sixty days from the date of mailing, the clerk will notify the department of the failure for purposes of instituting suspension procedures.

b. Upon the failure of a person to pay the fine, penalty, surcharge, or court costs within sixty days’ notice by the clerk of the district court as provided in paragraph “b”, the clerk shall report the failure to the department.

c. Upon receipt of a report of a failure to pay the fine, penalty, surcharge, or court costs from the clerk of the district court, the department shall in accordance with its rules, suspend the person’s driver’s license until the fine, penalty, surcharge, or court costs are paid.

 Driver's license suspension/impoundment Traffic Yes

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