Study Shows Fines and Fees Disproportionately Impact Rural Communities: Why it Matters to Louisiana
Fines and fees, the financial penalties that often accompany involvement with the justice system, are sources of great instability. The people who are being fined often cannot afford to pay the assigned amount, and find themselves sucked back into the justice system and unable to regain their footing as productive members of society. Similarly, the courts and state agencies that tie vital functions to the fluctuating funds associated with fines and fees can easily find themselves high and dry when fines are unpaid or not enough are imposed. New research from Pew highlights how the instability that flows from fines and fees is often felt more acutely in rural communities.
“Cascading Consequences of Fines and Fees” looked at the landscape of fines and fees over recent years to understand the scale of this problem. “Between 2018 and 2022, courts in 24 states assessed nearly $14 billion in fines and fees, with rural communities—home to roughly 46 million people—bearing a disproportionate burden compared with urban communities.” Some of the most common after effects of an overdue fine or fee can include a suspended driver’s license. The report emphasizes how, particularly in rural areas, a driver’s license can mean the difference between a job or unemployment.
The same report links higher poverty rates in rural areas to increased stress and mental health ailments over the debt incurred through fines and fees, citing a study that indicates “individuals with court debt are more likely to report poorer health and difficulty affording necessary health care than those without.” It's easy to imagine how an unpaid fine, a revoked driver’s license, a lost job, and faltering health can all cascade from a system that prioritizes monetary penalties over more sustainable solutions.
We’ve examined the risks of tying components of Louisiana’s justice system to fines and fees before; courts struggle to balance their budgets and people flounder to reach rehabilitation. Moreover, Louisiana’s complicated system of over 600 individual fines and fees makes justice less attainable because of the bureaucracy surrounding it.
Understanding the impact of this practice on certain populations is also important in our state, with 44 out of 64 parishes classified as rural or partly rural according to the Louisiana Department of Health. New data from the Reason Foundation indicates that Louisiana’s rural city governments are also reliant on fines and fees, with McNary (Rapides Parish) and Port Vincent (Livingston Parish) topping the charts of fines and fees collected versus general revenue. With Pew’s research in mind, this means that a large portion of Louisiana’s population is answering to a justice system reliant on the revenue from fines and fees that could completely destabilize their lives and livelihoods.
Solutions are available. Repealing rarely used fines and fees can allow lawmakers to better assess the reality of the situation. In Oklahoma’s two most recent legislative sessions, innovative bills were passed to collect data on the collection rate and implementation of fines and fees in the state. Eliminating the sheer quantity of fines and fees on the books would be a strong sign of progress. Additionally, both the Pew study and our own Future of Justice report understand a nuanced ability-to-pay determination as essential to stopping some of the ripple effects from court debt that can derail lives.
Louisiana cares for its rural communities, and our justice system can and should reflect that.