Criminal Justice

Consumer Issues for Justice-Involved Individuals

The criminal justice system and the collateral consequences that flow from it disproportionately harm low-income people and people of color. NCLC uses consumer law tools to stop abusive practices perpetrated against justice-involved people, including imposition of unaffordable fines and fees, debt-based barriers to criminal record clearing, harsh debt collection tactics, and predatory profiteering by public and private actors that impose unfair charges on captive consumers.

The High Cost of a Fresh Start: A State-by-State Analysis of Court Debt as a Bar to Record Clearing

February 1, 2022

For the nearly one-third of adults in the U.S. with a record of arrest or conviction, their record is not simply part of their past but a continuing condition that impacts nearly every aspect of their life.

Read More about: The High Cost of a Fresh Start: A State-by-State Analysis of Court Debt as a Bar to Record Clearing
December 10, 2019
March 19, 2022

Featured

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The Freedom Side Podcast: Caroline Cohn discusses junk fees & mass incarceration

March 2, 2023

Group Comments to FTC Regarding Unfair or Deceptive Fees

February 8, 2023

Biden Administration, FTC Must Crack Down on “Junk Fees” in Criminal Justice System

February 8, 2023

Letter to Treasury Regarding Tax Offset of EITC and CTC Benefits and Implications for Justice-Involved Individuals

February 7, 2023

Prison and Jail Phone Justice Advocates Applaud FCC’s Action to Affirm Rights for People with Disabilities

September 29, 2022

New Report Finds Incarcerated Federal Student Loan Borrowers Systematically Denied Access to Student Loan Relief

July 27, 2022

Collection At All Costs: Examining the Intersection of Mass Incarceration and the Student Debt Crisis

July 12, 2022

Zombie Records: How Sealed or Expunged Court Records in Tenant & Employment Screening Reports May Illegally Cost People Jobs & Housing

June 29, 2022

Captive Consumers

March 19, 2022

Comments & Letters

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Group Comments to FTC Regarding Unfair or Deceptive Fees

February 8, 2023

Letter to Treasury Regarding Tax Offset of EITC and CTC Benefits and Implications for Justice-Involved Individuals

February 7, 2023

Group Letter Urging the FCC to Reduce Phone Call Costs for People Who Are Incarcerated and to Ensure Accessible Communications for Incarcerated People with Disabilities

December 17, 2021

Coalition Letter to the U.S. House Urging Passage of the Martha Wright Prison Phone Justice Act

October 6, 2021

Group Comments to the FCC Regarding Rates for Interstate Inmate Calling Services

September 27, 2021

Group Letter to Department of Justice Requesting Updated Guidance on Juvenile Fees & Fines

June 8, 2021

Group Comments to FCC Regarding WT Docket 12-375

January 22, 2021

Group Letter to FCC Urging Adoption of Rules to Reduce Cost of Calls for the Incarcerated and Their Families

November 23, 2020

Group Letter to CT Regarding Prison Phone Justice

September 17, 2020

Reports

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The High Cost of a Fresh Start: A State-by-State Analysis of Court Debt as a Bar to Record Clearing

February 1, 2022

Report: Broken Records Redux

December 10, 2019

Commercialized (In)Justice Litigation Guide

June 1, 2020

Report: Commercialized (In)Justice 2019

March 5, 2019

Collection At All Costs: Examining the Intersection of Mass Incarceration and the Student Debt Crisis

July 12, 2022

Sentenced to a Life of Debt: It Is Time for a Reassessment of How Bankruptcy Law Intersects with Fines and Fees to Keep People in Debt

February 16, 2022

Report: The Rent-to-Own Racket

February 5, 2019

Criminal Justice Debt in the South: A Primer for the Southern Partnership to Reduce Debt

December 11, 2018

Confronting Criminal Justice Debt: A Guide for Policy Reform

September 6, 2016

Issue Briefs

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Zombie Records: How Sealed or Expunged Court Records in Tenant & Employment Screening Reports May Illegally Cost People Jobs & Housing

June 29, 2022

Criminal Justice Debt – How States Can Help

August 19, 2021

Testimony

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Testimony in Support of MA S. 1559

November 2, 2021

Testimony supporting Massachusetts H. 1900, Telephone Service for Inmates

October 18, 2021

Maryland Testimony: Promoting Accuracy in Background Checks and Tenant Screening

February 3, 2021

Written testimony before New York State’s Department of Financial Services, Division of Consumer Protection and Division of Criminal Justice Services, Bail Bond Reform Listening Session

Press Releases

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Report: Will States Let Debt Collectors Push Families into Poverty as Pandemic Protections Expire?

November 10, 2021

Biden Administration, FTC Must Crack Down on “Junk Fees” in Criminal Justice System

February 8, 2023

Prison and Jail Phone Justice Advocates Applaud FCC’s Action to Affirm Rights for People with Disabilities

September 29, 2022

New Report Finds Incarcerated Federal Student Loan Borrowers Systematically Denied Access to Student Loan Relief

July 27, 2022

The High Cost of a Fresh Start: New Report Examines Court Debt as a Barrier to Clearing a Conviction Record

February 14, 2022

New Report: Using Bankruptcy to Discharge Criminal Justice Debt 

October 8, 2020

Report: Rampant Errors on Criminal Background Check Reports Are Still Preventing Consumers from Securing Jobs and Housing

December 9, 2019

New Report Documents Growing Problem of Consumer Abuses Perpetuated by Companies Profiting from Mass Incarceration

March 20, 2019

New Report Highlights How the Rent to Own Industry Coerces Payments from Vulnerable Families

February 21, 2019

From the NCLC Digital Library

Collection Actions

The only treatise to detail consumer defenses to debt buyer and creditor collection lawsuits on credit card, medical, criminal justice, and other consumer debts.

Read Chapter One