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<br />
<br />NORTH CAROLINA POVERTY RESEARCH FUND 12
<br />Court Fines and Fees: Criminalizing Poverty in North Carolina
<br />The trauma of incarceration extends to defendants’ families, especially children. Ten percent of North
<br />Carolina’s children have parents who have been incarcerated.62 Children with imprisoned parents feel the
<br />financial deprivations that stem from incarceration, but they suffer in other ways too. The hardship,
<br />uncertainty and disruption caused by the incarceration of a parent can lead to emotional or behavioral
<br />disorders, such as depression, withdrawal and aggression. Children with incarcerated parents are more
<br />likely to be unhappy in school, experience higher suspension and dropout rates, and turn to crime later in
<br />life.63 These cumulative impacts stack the deck against already-disadvantaged kids and “can have
<br />intergenerational and community-wide effects, leaving neighborhoods struggling under the multiple
<br />burdens of poverty, debt, trauma, and loss of opportunities.”64
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<br />Incarceration and its consequences make it harder for poor defendants to pay off their court debt. As one
<br />inmate remarked, “Me being in here isn’t doing them any good, they’re not getting any money that
<br />way.”65 Jailing people for court debt also takes its toll on the state. In effect, North Carolina is spending
<br />money to increase the likelihood that it won’t get paid, all while exacting a tremendous price from
<br />defendants and their families.
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<br />62 Annie E. Casey Foundation, Kids Count Data Center, North Carolina, “Children Who Had a Parent Who Was Ever
<br />Incarcerated,” http://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/tables/9688-children-who-had-a-parent-who-was-ever-
<br />incarcerated?loc=35&loct=2 - detailed/2/any/false/1539/any/18927,18928.
<br />63 Frederickson and Lassiter, Debtors’ Prison Redux: How Legal Loopholes Let Courts Across the Country Criminalize Poverty,
<br />7; La Vigne, Davies, and Brazzell, Broken Bonds, 7–8. See also Annie E. Casey Foundation, A Shared Sentence: The Devastating
<br />Toll of Parental Incarceration on Kids, Families and Communities.
<br />64 deVuono-powell et al., Who Pays? 37.
<br />65 Rhode Island Family Life Center, Court Debt and Related Incarceration in Rhode Island from 2005 through 2007. 26.
<br />Scenes from a Courtroom
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<br />Hearings were scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. The judge arrived in court a little after 10, heard a few cases, and then stepped out at
<br />10:20. He did not return to the courtroom until 11:27. During that time, many defendants were restless and asked the officers and
<br />attorneys when the judge would return. At 11:12, after the judge had been gone almost an hour, a male defendant approached
<br />nearby officers and asked them when the judge would be back because he wanted to use the bathroom. A sheriff threatened to put
<br />him in jail if he missed his turn and told him that the judge “finds a lot of people in contempt of court” so he should be careful.1
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<br />***
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<br />The judge you appear before as a defendant can make all the difference. We heard of one defendant who owed more than $3,000
<br />for a DWI. The defendant was a single dad, raising a daughter who was in 6th grade. His only source of income was his deceased
<br />wife’s social security. Thanks to an understanding probation officer and a judge who waived his fees, he didn’t go to jail. But under
<br />different circumstances, his story could have turned out much worse.
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<br />One judge described the defendants who would cry in front of her “because they didn’t expect to be treated decently.” She
<br />explained, “Many of my brothers and sisters suffer from Black Robe-itis, playing at God. They think, ‘if you don’t have money, it’s
<br />because you’re lazy, you didn’t take advantage of opportunities.’” She continued, “A judge without experience will misread certain
<br />behaviors as stubbornness or contempt,” when poverty or mental health issues are the cause. Part of a judge’s job is to “have a
<br />sensitivity to the person standing before you.” You have to remember, she said, “Each case is a big deal to the person it’s
<br />happening to.”2
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<br />1.North Carolina Poverty Research Fund court observation.
<br />2.Pat DeVine interview with the North Carolina Poverty Research Fund, August 7, 2017.
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