We scrape together pennies: fairness and effectiveness of monetary sanctions

ABSTRACT

Monetary sanctions are in every part of the criminal legal system. This paper explores monetary sanctions in community supervision (probation and parole). The findings from a mixed-methods, multiple-state research study illustrate how fines and fees are administered, collected, and enforced within community supervision. Supervision officers have little discretion in the number of fines and fees assessed but have more discretion in collecting the payments and punishing or sanctioning nonpayment. The findings in this paper also elucidate how individuals and their social supports experience having to pay monetary sanctions. The burden of financial sanctions is not felt only by the individual on supervision but also extends to the family. The article concludes with recommendations for improving the use of monetary sanctions within community supervision.

KEYWORDS:

• Monetary sanctions
• community supervisions
• violations
• revocations

Acknowledgements

Thank you to Arnold Ventures for funding much of this research. Thank you to Robina Institute of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice (Kelly Mitchell and Kevin Reitz) for setting me on the path to study this important topic. Thank you to Alexes Harris for your mentorship. Thank you to Amber Petkus for assisting in the data collection and analysis and finally thank you to the community supervision departments and most importantly to the individuals on supervision and their support people for sharing their experiences.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Co-investigators/researchers: Indiana (Miriam Northcutt Bohmert and Michelle Ying) Massachusetts (Shytierra Gatson) Michigan (Meghan O’Neil) Pennsylvania (Jordan M. Hyatt & Nathan Link) Texas (Ebony L. Ruhland and Amber Petkus) Virginia (Julia Lakorunsky and Kelly Mitchell).

2. This was a check all survey question so officers could select multiple responses.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ebony L. Ruhland

Ebony L. Ruhland is an associate professor at the Rutgers University Newark. Her research focuses on how criminal justice policies and practices impact individuals, families, and communities. Dr. Ruhland is currently working on a multi-state research project that is examining fees and fines in community corrections. Through her research, Dr. Ruhland hopes to find ways improve criminal justice and corrections policies to reduce mass incarceration, racial disparities, and collateral consequences. Dr. Ruhland received her Ph.D. from the School of Social Work at the University of Minnesota.