Inability to Pay: Court Debt Circa 2020

Abstract

Commitments to "access to justice" abound. So do economic barriers that undermine that premise. Fees, costs, fines, money bail, and other financial assessments-levied by courts, jails, and prisons-have become commonplace features of state and federal civil and criminal law enforcement.

Yet the challenges of funding courts and the harms of debt generated through interactions with the legal system have not yet become staples of law school teaching and scholarship. This mini-symposium is one of many efforts to bring to the fore the failures of law to make good on its promises of open courts and equal treatment of civil disputants and criminal defendants. The Essays that follow contribute to a growing literature mapping the impact of court and prison debt. This mini-symposium, in turn, offers law teachers and students a window into the breadth of research, litigation, legislation, and legal analyses aiming to understand and to stop what have become regressive tax systems that are produced by virtue of court-based fees, fines, assessments, and money bail.

Before detailing more about the Essays that follow, context is needed to show the links between the academy-focused on teaching about courts, procedure, bankruptcy, and criminal law enforcement-and the problems of courts and of the people using them. During the second half of the twentieth century, political and social movements brought into sharp relief inequalities and subordination based on race, class, gender, and many other status markers. Activism and scholarship pushed courts and legislatures to recognize a host of rights and entitlements, ranging from protections of criminal defendants and prisoners to habitable housing, government benefits, and fair treatment in interactions with the state.