#25 Juvenile Court Fees Punish Children for Their Families’ Poverty

Knight's article drew on a 2016 report by Juvenile Law Center, a legal aid advocacy group, which reviewed statutes in all fifty states and the District of Columbia to assess "the legal framework for financial obligations placed on youth in the juvenile justice system and their families." Juvenile Law Center also conducted interviews with 183 people involved in the juvenile justice system?including lawyers, family members, and adults who had been incarcerated as children across forty-one states. Noting "stark racial disparities" in the juvenile justice system generally, from arrests to diversion and detention, the study's authors wrote that costs, fines, fees, and restitution "exacerbate racial disparities in the juvenile justice system," in some cases creating what they described as "modern-day debtors' prisons." Notably, Juvenile Law Center's report not only identified problems in the system but also highlighted solutions, including promising practices, legislative remedies, and case studies of jurisdictions that no longer impose court costs, fees, and fines in their juvenile systems.