The unpaid costs of financial punishments

A helpful reader sent me this link to an effective AP article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that highlights practical realities that surround financial punishments.  Here are excerpts:

A young burglar accused of burning down the St. Paul United Methodist Church 13 years ago was ordered to make $2.4 million in restitution. It was, at best, wishful thinking on the part of the court. A new church was built, but no thanks to him.  He coughed up a paltry $374.

Across the nation, billions of dollars in restitution, fines and court fees go unpaid, in part because the amounts are often symbolic — so large that many defendants can’t possibly pay up — but also because many states and courts are ill-equipped to go after whatever money is available.

In Pennsylvania alone, the amount of unpaid fees, fines and restitution stands at a whopping $1.55 billion, including $187 million in Allegheny County, The Associated Press found.  Pennsylvania came up with the figure — its first-ever statewide estimate — after the AP asked it to run a query through a new court computer network.

“When you have a billion dollars’ worth of outstanding restitution orders, you can see that the system is in collapse,” said Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham. “It’s a system that’s fraught with inadequacies, improper checks and balances, no procedures in place. It’s sort of a haphazard little dance that everyone dances around.”

That is changing in some places. Many states have begun taking steps to force defendants to pay up, in some cases turning to outside companies for help, or ratcheting up their own in-house collection efforts. In Arizona, the amount of unpaid court costs, fines, fees and restitution totaled $831 million at last count. But the state has managed to bring in close to $90 million since it contracted four years ago with Affiliated Computer Services of Dallas, said Michael DiMarco, consolidated collections manager for Arizona’s courts. Missouri and Minnesota also use Affiliated….

The total amount of fines and restitution owed in all 50 states is unclear. A national court organization and the U.S. Justice Department have no comprehensive figures.  The $1.55 billion in unpaid debt in Pennsylvania, accurate as of June 30, includes some orders that go back decades. The amount includes $638 million in restitution and $912 million in court costs, fees and fines.

About one-quarter of the total is owed by people who are in prison and generally can afford no more than token payments. Large amounts are owed by ex-cons and others who are struggling to make ends meet….

Prosecutors say collections would increase if judges would declare people who do not pay in violation of their probation, but that often falls behind other priorities, like trying to keep released criminals employed, drug-free and out of jail. To many judges, jailing people for nonpayment smacks too much of debtor’s prison.