Poverty Penalties and Poverty Traps

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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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Kansas Kan. Stat. Ann. § 8-2110 Failure to comply with traffic citation; misdemeanor; suspension of driver's license; restricted driving privileges; fees for mailing notice; reinstatement fee; authorized only by legislative enactment; disposition of reinstatement fees
When a person fails to comply with a traffic citation, except for illegal parking, standing or stopping, the district or municipal court in which the person should have complied with
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the citation shall mail notice to the person that if the person does not appear in district or municipal court or pay all fines, court costs and any penalties within 30 days from the date of mailing notice, the division of vehicles will be notified to suspend the person's driving privileges. The district or municipal court may charge an additional fee of $5 for mailing such notice.
Driver's license suspension/impoundment Misdemeanor Yes
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Kansas Kan. Stat. Ann. § 8-1567 Driving a commercial motor vehicle under the influence; penalties
In lieu of payment of a fine imposed pursuant to this section, the court may order that the person perform community service specified by the court. The person shall receive
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a credit on the fine imposed in an amount equal to $5 for each full hour spent by the person in the specified community service. The community service ordered by the court shall be required to be performed not later than one year after the fine is imposed or by an earlier date specified by the court. If by the required date the person performs an insufficient amount of community service to reduce to zero the portion of the fine required to be paid by the person, the remaining balance of the fine shall become due on that date.
Community service All No
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Kansas Kan. Stat. Ann. § 21-6604(q) Authorized dispositions; crimes committed on or after July 1, 1993
In imposing a fine, the court may authorize the payment thereof in installments. In lieu of payment of any fine imposed, the court may order that the person perform community
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service specified by the court. The person shall receive a credit on the fine imposed in an amount equal to $5 for each full hour spent by the person in the specified community service. The community service ordered by the court shall be required to be performed by the later of one year after the fine is imposed or one year after release from imprisonment or jail, or by an earlier date specified by the court. If by the required date the person performs an insufficient amount of community service to reduce to zero the portion of the fine required to be paid by the person, the remaining balance shall become due on that date. If conditional reduction of any fine is rescinded by the court for any reason, then pursuant to the court's order the person may be ordered to perform community service by one year after the date of such rescission or by an earlier date specified by the court. If by the required date the person performs an insufficient amount of community service to reduce to zero the portion of the fine required to be paid by the person, the remaining balance of the fine shall become due on that date. All credits for community service shall be subject to review and approval by the court.
Payment plan/installment plan All No
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Kansas Kan. Stat. Ann. § 21-6607(b)(11) Conditions of probation or suspended sentence; correctional supervision fee; correctional supervision fund; searches; drug testing; written reports
The court may impose any conditions of probation, suspension of sentence or assignment to a community correctional services program that the court deems proper, including, but not limited to, requiring
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that the defendant: (11) perform services under a system of day fines whereby the defendant is required to satisfy fines, costs or reparation or restitution obligations by performing services for a period of days, determined by the court on the basis of ability to pay, standard of living, support obligations and other factors;
Condition or extension of supervision All No
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Kansas Kan. Stat. Ann. § 21-6607(b)(7) Conditions of probation or suspended sentence; correctional supervision fee; correctional supervision fund; searches; drug testing; written reports
The court may impose any conditions of probation, suspension of sentence or assignment to a community correctional services program that the court deems proper, including, but not limited to, requiring
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that the defendant: (7) pay a fine or costs, applicable to the offense, in one or several sums and in the manner as directed by the court;
Condition or extension of supervision All No
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Kansas Kan. Stat. Ann. § 22-3425(1) Commitment for failure to pay fine and costs
(1) When a defendant is adjudged to pay a fine and costs, the court may order him to be committed to the county jail until such fine and costs are
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paid or may make an order providing for the payment of such fines and costs in installments.
Incarceration All No
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Kansas K.S.A. Const. Bill of Rights § 16 Imprisonment for debt No person shall be imprisoned for debt, except in cases of fraud. Incarceration All Yes
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Kansas Kan. Stat. Ann. § 22-3425(2) Commitment for failure to pay fine and costs
Any person confined in the county jail for failure to pay a fine or costs may be released by the court which imposed sentence, upon satisfactory proof that such person
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is unable to pay such fine and costs. A release under this section shall not discharge a person from his liability to pay the fine and costs adjudged against him, but they may thereafter be collected by execution as on judgments in civil cases.
Payment plan/installment plan All No
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Kansas Kan. Stat. Ann. § 21-6604(b)(1)(2) Authorized dispositions; crimes committed on or after July 1, 1993
If the court orders restitution, the restitution shall be a judgment against the defendant which may be collected by the court by garnishment or other execution as on judgments in
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civil cases. If, after 60 days from the date restitution is ordered by the court, a defendant is found to be in noncompliance with the plan established by the court for payment of restitution, and the victim to whom restitution is ordered paid has not initiated proceedings in accordance with K.S.A. 60-4301 et seq., and amendments thereto, the court shall assign an agent procured by the attorney general pursuant to K.S.A. 75-719, and amendments thereto, to collect the restitution on behalf of the victim. The chief judge of each judicial district may assign such cases to an appropriate division of the court for the conduct of civil collection proceedings.
Wage/bank account garnishment All No
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Kansas Kan. Stat. Ann. § 21-6604(j) Authorized dispositions; crimes committed on or after July 1, 1993
(j) This section shall not deprive the court of any authority conferred by any other Kansas statute to decree a forfeiture of property, suspend or cancel a license, remove a
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person from office or impose any other civil penalty as a result of conviction of crime.
Driver's license suspension/impoundment All No
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Kansas Kan. Stat. Ann. § 21-6604(j) Authorized dispositions; crimes committed on or after July 1, 1993
(j) This section shall not deprive the court of any authority conferred by any other Kansas statute to decree a forfeiture of property, suspend or cancel a license, remove a
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person from office or impose any other civil penalty as a result of conviction of crime.
Driver's license suspension/impoundment All No
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Kansas Kan. Stat. Ann. § 21-6604(f)(1) Authorized dispositions; crimes committed on or after July 1, 1993
(j) This section shall not deprive the court of any authority conferred by any other Kansas statute to decree a forfeiture of property, suspend or cancel a license, remove a
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person from office or impose any other civil penalty as a result of conviction of crime.
Property liens All No
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Kansas Kan. Stat. Ann. § 21-6604(j) Authorized dispositions; crimes committed on or after July 1, 1994
(f)(1) When a new felony is committed while the offender is incarcerated and serving a sentence for a felony, or while the offender is on probation, assignment to a community
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correctional services program, parole, conditional release or postrelease supervision for a felony, a new sentence shall be imposed consecutively pursuant to the provisions of K.S.A. 21-6606, and amendments thereto, and the court may sentence the offender to imprisonment for the new conviction, even when the new crime of conviction otherwise presumes a nonprison sentence. In this event, imposition of a prison sentence for the new crime does not constitute a departure.
Condition or extension of supervision All No
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Tennessee Tenn. Code Ann. § 55-50-507 Community Service Work
By a majority vote of the applicable local legislative body, any county or city may, by resolution or ordinance, establish a program that allows any person who is indigent and
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who has been convicted of driving while the person's license is cancelled, suspended, or revoked in violation of § 55-50-504(a) to complete community service work in lieu of paying the fines and other costs imposed for the conviction. The community service program shall be administered and monitored by the appropriate entity that administers court-ordered community service within the applicable jurisdiction.
Community service All No
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Tennessee Tenn. Code Ann. § 41-2-129(b)(4) Compensation and salaries; work release (4) If the prisoner is gainfully self-employed, the prisoner shall pay for such board, in default of which the prisoner's privilege under §§ 41-2-127 -- 41-2-132 shall be automatically forfeited. Other All Yes
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Tennessee Tenn. Code Ann. § 41-2-128(5) Prisoners who may apply for release -- Procedure.
(5) (A) The judge shall, at the time of sentencing, cause the sentencing order to reflect the defendant's cost of incarceration and treatment and shall affix to the order,
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taking into consideration the defendant's ability to pay, the time and manner in which the costs are to be paid. The court shall enter the necessary orders requiring that the costs of incarceration and treatment be paid or secured, including, but not limited to, orders of probation that include, as a condition thereof, the payment of costs covered by this subdivision (c)(5).
Condition or extension of supervision All Yes
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Tennessee Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-24-104(b) Revocation of Driver's License
Whenever a court orders a defendant to pay a fine, imposed as a result of a traffic violation, in installment payments, the court shall revoke the defendant's privilege to operate
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a motor vehicle in this state upon the failure of the defendant to comply with the order of the court. If the defendant's privilege to operate a motor vehicle has been revoked for the failure to comply with the court order, the privilege shall remain so revoked until the total amount of the fine imposed is paid.
Driver's license suspension/impoundment All Yes
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Tennessee Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-24-104(a) Imprisonment
If the defendant fails to pay the fine as directed, or is unable to pay the fine and so represents upon application to the court, the court, after inquiring into
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and making further investigation, if any, which it may deem necessary with regard to the defendant's financial and family situation and the reasons for nonpayment of the fine, including whether the nonpayment was contumacious or was due to indigency, may enter any order that it could have entered under § 40-24-101, or may reduce the fine to an amount that the defendant is able to pay, or may direct that the defendant be imprisoned until the fine, or any portion of it, remaining unpaid or remaining undischarged after a pro rata credit for any time that may already have been served in lieu of payments, is paid. The court shall determine and specify, in the light of defendant's situation and means and of defendant's conduct with regard to the nonpayment of the fine, the period of any imprisonment in default of payment of the fine within the limits of the penalties for a Class C misdemeanor.
Incarceration All No
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Tennessee Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-24-101(a) Installments
(a) When any court of this state, including municipal courts for violation of municipal ordinances, imposes a fine upon an individual, the court may direct as follows: (1) That the
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defendant pay the entire amount at the time sentence is pronounced; (2) That the defendant pay the entire amount at some later date; (3) That the defendant pay the fine in specified portions or installments at designated periodic intervals and that the portions be remitted to a designated official, who shall report to the court in the event of any failure to comply with the order; or (4) Where the defendant is sentenced to a period of probation as well as a fine, that payment of the fine be a condition of the sentence.
Payment plan/installment plan All No
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Tennessee Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-24-105(a) Collection; fines, costs and litigation taxes; license revocation
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. The
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trial court may also enforce all orders assessing any fine remaining in default by contempt upon a finding by the court that the defendant has the present ability to pay the fine and willfully refuses to pay. Costs and litigation taxes due 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 or litigation taxes. The following shall be the allocation formula for moneys paid into court: the first moneys paid in any case shall first be credited toward payment of litigation taxes and once litigation taxes have been paid, the next moneys shall be credited toward payment of costs; then additional moneys shall be credited toward payment of the fine.
Property liens All No