MAKING CHILDREN PAY - THE HIDDEN COST TO KANSAS OF JUVENILE FEES AND FINES

Kansas Appleseed and Juvenile Law Center co-authored the report “Making Children Pay - The Hidden Cost to Kansas of Juvenile Fees and Fines.” The report outlines the ways in which fees and fines are inefficient and costly to the public, undermine public safety by driving youth further into the system, and violate youth and families’ constitutional rights. 

The report explains that, based on comprehensive research and data gathered by Kansas Appleseed, youth fees and fines do not make fiscal sense. Kansas Appleseed gathered information from the Kansas Department of Corrections as well as local jurisdictions and counties across the state. They asked jurisdictions about what types of fees and fines they were collecting, how much jurisdictions were receiving in the collections process, and how long it was taking them. 

What we found was that jurisdictions have surplus funding available for the same purposes, and this funding more than makes up for the negligible amount collected in youth fees and fines. We also found that collections are a time consuming, unreliable source of minimal revenue for local jurisdictions. Given the proven harms associated with assessing youth fees and fines, the practice is not worth the cost to Kansans.