The financial penalties imposed, directly or indirectly, as a result of a criminal conviction, are among the least considered or analyzed of the collateral consequences. Driven by a combination of philosophical purposes, local, state and federal governments have come to impose a vast array of financial penalties that are levied against people convicted of criminal offenses.
This paper looks at the current status of these penalties in New York State and provides examples of how these costs mount up for people who are unlikely to have the resources to pay these debts.
There are profound policy issues that need careful consideration including the implication of allowing financial penalties to supplant tax revenues. Public safety is a community goal and a public good. As such the cost should be borne by the public and not shifted to those who can least afford these financial burdens
This paper was presented by Alan Rosenthal, Director of CCA’s Justice Strategies division at the Occasional Series on Reentry Research sponsored by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice Prisoner Reentry Institute on February 9, 2007.
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