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<br /> <br />NORTH CAROLINA POVERTY RESEARCH FUND 20 <br />Court Fines and Fees: Criminalizing Poverty in North Carolina <br />Figure 1. Number of people incarcerated in North Carolina <br /> Source: Prison Policy Initiative <br /> <br /> <br />Figure 2. Population in correctional custody, care or control in North Carolina, 1985 and 2015 <br /> Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics <br /> <br />As more people entered North Carolina’s criminal justice system, it became vastly more expensive to run. <br />In the thirty years between 1986 and 2015, state spending on corrections from the state’s General Fund <br />alone increased 253% (Fig. 3). Judicial branch expenditures also rose, climbing from about $401 million <br />in 2003 to its peak of about $546 million in 2009, before the recession, a newly elected cadre of “small <br />government” legislators and state budget cuts brought it back down again.119 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />119 North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts Budget Management and Financial Services, Statistical and Operational <br />Report of Budget Management and Financial Services: July 1, 2015 - June 30, 2016. <br />0 <br />10,000 <br />20,000 <br />30,000 <br />40,000 <br />50,000 <br />60,000 <br />Total # in prison # in jail <br />0 <br />20,000 <br />40,000 <br />60,000 <br />80,000 <br />100,000 <br />120,000 <br />140,000 <br />160,000 <br />Total Prison and jail Probation and parole <br />1985 2015