How do criminal justice fees, and their removal, affect people’s assets, experiences, and chances of success on probation?
We are estimating the impact of fees and other monetary sanctions on peoples’ financial health, life experiences, and probation outcomes.
Context & movement toward reform
Over recent decades, criminal justice agencies have increasingly imposed administrative fees on people in the justice system to offset the costs of their arrest, booking, detention, probation supervision, legal representation, and more. These fees are intended to raise revenue by shifting costs from taxpayers to “users” of the system. But people often can’t afford to pay. Advocacy campaigns like End Justice Fees have propelled reform efforts, leading to fee repeals in states like California.
Testing the impact of fee repeal & broader financial sanctions
Despite widespread advocacy for reform, the effects of fee repeal and financial sanctions on outcomes are poorly understood. Fees are just one type of financial sanction: people may also face fines (as penalties for offenses) and restitution (as compensation to victims). The extent to which repealing fees reduces peoples’ overall financial burden, improves their criminal justice outcomes, or generally affects their lives has not be rigorously examined. Anecdotal evidence suggests that financial sanctions can exacerbate debt, stress, and peoples’ likelihood of re-arrest, but existing studies are limited and yield mixed results.
To address these gaps, we conducted a mixed-methods study of adult fee repeal in Alameda County. First, we applied a rigorous causal inference approach to data on 4,975 people placed on probation before and after the fee repeal in Alameda County. Our analysis estimated the impact of fee repeal on peoples’ financial health and probation outcomes, as well as the broader association between total financial sanctions and these outcomes. Data sources included probation and collections records, state arrest records, and credit records. Second, we intensively interviewed 16 people who were on probation before, during, and after fees were repealed to capture their perceptions of whether and how this policy change made a meaningful difference in their lives.
Preliminary findings
- Reduced financial burden. Fee repeal reduced people’s financial obligations by 69% ($1,616). In this progressive county, there was no evidence of increased fines to offset lost revenue. Despite the continuation of fines and restitution, people’s financial burden substantially decreased.
- Impact on probation outcomes. Fee repeal shortened probation terms by nearly two months but did not significantly affect re-arrest rates. Broader financial sanctions—not fees alone—modestly increased people’s chances of re-arrest. This suggests a need for comprehensive reform to prevent recidivism.
- Impact on people’s experiences. Although people did not distinguish among different types of financial sanctions, fee repeal clearly “mattered” to them. When their fees were repealed, people described experiencing a sense of release. They perceived improvements in their financial status, mental health, and family relationships, if not their criminal-legal involvement.
Next steps & implications
We are currently testing whether the fee repeal significantly improved peoples’ trajectories of credit scores over the two-year period following their probation placement. This study is the first to examine the impact of fee repeal on peoples’ financial health.
We are writing policy briefs and articles to disseminate these findings. Our results suggest that fee repeal can be a powerful lever for reducing peoples’ financial burden and probation duration, without increasing recidivism.
The growing movement to end justice fees requires robust empirical evidence. This research provides insights that can guide policymakers’ decisions toward effective reform.
Partners & funding
Jennifer Skeem and Sharon Farrell are leading this project, in collaboration with Luyi Jian. This project was made possible through our partnership with Alameda Probation. Credit panel data and support are being provided by the California Policy Lab (CPL). Partial funding was provided by Arnold Ventures.
