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NORTH CAROLINA POVERTY RESEARCH FUND 4 Court Fines and Fees: Criminalizing Poverty in North Carolina disabled, or suffers from mental illness or addiction. Similarly, when a person is arrested on a minor offense like trespassing, marijuana, disorderly conduct—or someone has failed to appear in court, a bond is required. For many a $500 bond might as well be $5 million. They are held, not because they are a danger to the community, but because they are poor. Jail becomes “debtor’s prison.”3 We outlawed debtor’s prisons in the United States in the 19th century. In North Carolina, we even wrote the prohibition into our constitution: “There shall be no imprisonment for debt in this State.”4 ************************* The due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibit states from “punishing a person for his poverty.”5 Though the rule seems to be accepted in theory, in practice it is violated across North Carolina and much of the country on a routine, and increasing, basis. This report is the first in a series of six to be issued by the North Carolina Poverty Research Fund exploring a broad array of state criminal justice practices that work to criminalize poverty. As a result, they deny constitutional principle, cast pervasive doubt upon the openness and fundamental fairness of our courts, demean the independence and professionalism of our judges, crush the dignity and life prospects of many low-income Tar Heels, and seek to shift the responsibility for funding an effective, accurate and impartial system of justice from the broad citizenry to an unlikely cohort of the most economically distressed North Carolinians. Most fundamentally, the practices deploy the power of the state to sanction, or to increase punishments, simply because the defendants are poor. Fines and Fees in North Carolina Fines and fees are among the monetary sanctions, sometimes referred to as legal financial obligations, courts impose on criminal defendants. Fines are levied as the punishment for breaking a law. Fees are meant to generate revenue and are used to fund the courts and other government activities. In North Carolina and elsewhere, fees attach to every step of the criminal justice process. On top of fines and fees, defendants may be ordered to pay restitution to the victim and, in some states, additional surcharges. The sharp rise of fines and fees in recent years—and the enormous number of people who owe them—has given the topic a new urgency. Since 2010, at least 48 states have increased court fees, added new ones, or both.6 It is estimated that about 80-85% of inmates leave prison owing court-imposed costs.7 In North Carolina, fees have increased 400% over the past twenty years.8 Fees are defined by North Carolina statute. One of the most common is the General Court of Justice fee, which is assessed against all defendants in criminal court (including traffic infractions) who plead guilty or are convicted. The fee is $147.50 for cases in district court and $154.50 in superior court. Other fees accompany the General Court of Justice fee and all together a defendant can expect to pay a minimum fee 3 Morey, “When Traffic Court Becomes Debtors’ Prison.” 4 North Carolina Constitution, Article I, Section 28. 5 Bearden v. Georgia, 461 U.S. 660, 671 (1983). 6 Shapiro, “As Court Fees Rise, the Poor Are Paying the Price.” 7 Shapiro. 8 Gordon, “His Sentence Carried No Jail Time. So Why Did He Keep Ending Up There?”