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<br />
<br />NORTH CAROLINA POVERTY RESEARCH FUND 3
<br />Court Fines and Fees: Criminalizing Poverty in North Carolina
<br />come up with money to pay the courts.” It doesn’t seem to him like you should have to go to jail because
<br />you don’t have any money.
<br />
<br />Marcia Morey now represents Durham in the North Carolina General Assembly. But until 2017, she was
<br />Durham County’s much-admired chief district judge. Almost two decades on the bench, including being
<br />chief since 2010, taught her much. And some of it, especially concerning the legal system’s treatment of
<br />poor people, causes her to lose sleep. “Think of it,” she told us, “the great percentage of criminal
<br />defendants are poor, but every step of the judicial process involves money, starting with bond.”2 In this
<br />system, she said, “You need money, it all turns on money, but most defendants don’t have it. Where’s the
<br />fairness in that?”
<br />
<br />If lucky, a defendant who pleads guilty might receive a suspended sentence. That sounds good, but it
<br />includes an order to pay court-imposed costs and fees. The basic fee for going to court is about $180-
<br />$200, never mind bail fees or fees for pre-trial detention. If community service is ordered, an additional
<br />$250 fee is tacked on. If probation is entailed, supervision is $40 a month. It is not at all unusual, Judge
<br />Morey indicates, for the costs and fees, even in minor criminal cases, to approach or even exceed a
<br />thousand dollars. If the already-indigent defendant can’t come up with the required tab, other costs and
<br />penalties ensue: an installment payment fee, late fees, probation violation, and, if payment isn’t
<br />forthcoming, actual incarceration. All of this flows from conduct that the court originally believed
<br />unworthy, or impermissible, as a basis for jail time. Poverty has its costs. High and punitive ones.
<br />
<br />Judge Morey spoke of a defendant she remembers whom she called Walter Smith (not his real name).
<br />One day in traffic court, Smith appeared before her, charged with driving with a revoked license. His
<br />license had been taken away some months earlier, when he couldn’t pay $230 in fines and fees for a
<br />speeding ticket.
<br />
<br />When he appeared in Judge Morey’s court, Smith’s problems were multiplying. He had an unpaid order
<br />for court costs for the original infraction, a revoked license, a new criminal charge and the fine and fees
<br />that followed from that. Smith requested a public defender. Morey was unable to appoint counsel, though,
<br />because a few months earlier the General Assembly had restricted the categories of crimes for which a
<br />lawyer could be appointed. So she explained to Smith that he would need to hire his own counsel.
<br />
<br />“Your Honor,” she recalled that he protested, “I got picked up while driving to the grocery store. I was
<br />taken to jail because I didn’t pay that old ticket and y’all yanked my license. I have heart disease and
<br />can’t work. Now do you really think I can afford to hire my own lawyer? I need some help here.” As
<br />Judge Morey remembers, “Smith was standing in front of me in desperation, and there was nothing I
<br />could do to help him with his plea. I said, ‘I am very sorry. I have to follow the law which does not allow
<br />me to appoint you an attorney.’” Smith “was unemployed, disabled and simply had no money or ability to
<br />pay.” She feared jail was about to become the punishment for his poverty. She urged the district attorney
<br />to find a way to accommodate him. For her part, she waived his court costs and a $40 jail fee. (He had
<br />already spent a day in jail.) She wished him well and, as he walked out of the courtroom, she heard him
<br />mutter, “all they want is damn money.”
<br />
<br />Smith spent time in jail, and faced more, because he couldn’t pay for his traffic ticket. He didn’t do it
<br />stubbornly, or on purpose. He simply didn’t have any money or any way to get some. Judge Morey
<br />writes:
<br />
<br />Every day, people all over North Carolina face a judge for a minor offense or traffic
<br />infraction and are ordered to make payments of hundreds of dollars they simply cannot
<br />afford. Far too often nonpayment is not willful. It is because he or she is unemployed,
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<br />2 Marcia Morey interview with the North Carolina Poverty Research Fund, July 27, 2017.
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