RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 What Is Wrong with Monetary Sanctions? Directions for Policy, Practice, and Research
JF RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences
FD Russell Sage Foundation
SP 221
OP 243
DO 10.7758/RSF.2022.8.1.10
VO 8
IS 1
A1 Brittany Friedman
A1 Alexes Harris
A1 Beth M. Huebner
A1 Karin D. Martin
A1 Becky Pettit
A1 Sarah K.S. Shannon
A1 Bryan L. Sykes
YR 2022
UL http://www.rsfjournal.org/content/8/1/221.abstract
AB Monetary sanctions are an integral and increasingly debated feature of the American criminal legal system. Emerging research, including that featured in this volume, offers important insight into the law governing monetary sanctions, how they are levied, and how their imposition affects inequality. Monetary sanctions are assessed for a wide range of contacts with the criminal legal system ranging from felony convictions to alleged traffic violations with important variability in law and practice across states. These differences allow for the identification of features of law, policy, and practice that differentially shape access to justice and equality before the law. Common practices undermine individuals’ rights and fuel inequality in the effects of unpaid monetary sanctions. These observations lead us to offer a number of specific recommendations to improve the administration of justice, mitigate some of the most harmful effects of monetary sanctions, and advance future research.