Applying consumer laws to commercial bail, prison retail, and private debt collection Increasingly, Americans who have contact with the criminal legal system find themselves deprived not only of their liberty but also of their property, as the system imposes onerous fines and fees on criminal defendants and their loved ones. Today, the resulting criminal justice…
130 groups Call for a Nationwide Moratorium on Juvenile Fees and Fines
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COVID-19 has created an unprecedented public health and economic crisis. Low-wage, hourly, and gig workers are losing income or risking their health working in close proximity to others. More and more families are struggling to pay rent, keep the lights on, feed their children, and get medical care in the midst of widespread fear and…
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During this unprecedented crisis, the organizations below write on behalf of our country’s most vulnerable people in terms of health and economic stability: incarcerated people and their families and loved ones. During the COVID-19 pandemic incarcerated and detained individuals are being deprived of family visits across the country in conditions that make them uniquely at…
Read More about Letter to the FCC—Protect Incarcerated People
This report provides an update to the 2012 Broken Records report. Today, the background screening industry is a multi-billion dollar industry, with about 94% of employers and about 90% of landlords using background checks to evaluate prospective employees and tenants. Background screening companies now generate reports through largely automated processes. Generally, they run automated searches…
Debt-based driver’s license suspensions are a widespread yet counterproductive practice that undercuts economic growth.
Read More about Letter of Support: Driving for Opportunity Act of 2020
Consumer abuses in the bail and corrections industry Since 1980, the number of people incarcerated in America increased from roughly 500,000 to over 2.2 million, and currently 4.5 million people across the nation are on probation or parole. During this time, state and local governments have sought to shift the cost of operating the criminal…
This primer is intended to support advocates seeking to identify policy reforms to address the problems with current criminal justice debt practices and restore integrity to our justice system. It begins with a brief overview of some of the most harmful consequences of current criminal justice debt practices, then provides recommended reforms, and ends with…
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