Guest opinion: House bill offers needed reforms of court-imposed debts

Our criminal justice system should work to hold offenders accountable and offer them a meaningful opportunity to rebuild their lives. It should also provide restitution to crime victims. Unfortunately, Washington’s systems for imposing financial debts on criminal defendants often undermine these goals.

Now, our Legislature has a chance to improve this key part of the justice system by passing legislation reforming Washington’s policies on legal financial obligations (LFOs): the various fees, fines, court costs, assessments and restitution that courts order defendants to pay as part of their convictions.

LFOs are imposed in all courts, for all classes of offenses, and on every convicted defendant in Washington. These LFOs can include restitution to a victim, and fines. Persons convicted of crimes can also be required to pay for the cost of their public defenders, costs related to requesting a jury, and costs of jail. On average, Superior Court defendants are assessed $2,540 per felony conviction.

The consequences of court-imposed debts can be devastating for poor defendants. Once imposed, LFOs accrue interest at 12 percent per year. And in some counties persons who lack the ability to pay off their LFOs are arrested and incarcerated – creating modern-day versions of debtors’ prisons.

For people who are unemployed, undereducated and with limited means, LFOs can become a permanent burden. It can lead to wage garnishment, jail and job loss. They are prisoners of debt for the remainder of their lives.

Further, our LFO systems don’t always serve the needs of victims. The law doesn’t require that victims be paid first from district and municipal court collections. In Superior Courts, LFO payments can be applied to collection fees or other cases, even if victims are still owed restitution.

These problems with LFOs are receiving widespread and long-needed attention. The U.S. Department of Justice recently issued a scathing report about the system of monetary sanctions imposed by the city of Ferguson, Missouri, on residents. Ferguson, the department found, through its court policies for fining people, had created a pervasive system of oppression focused on the stopping, arresting, convicting and jailing of mostly poor African-American residents, then using fines from those cases to balance the city budget.

And in Washington, our Supreme Court recently issued an opinion (in State v. Blazina) that acknowledged excessive LFOs can contribute to recidivism by making it more difficult for people to find employment and housing. The court ordered trial judges to make an “individualized inquiry into the defendant’s current and future ability to pay before the court imposes LFOs.”

LFO reform is not a partisan issue. HB 1390, the reform bill, passed the Washington House of Representatives by an overwhelming 94-4 vote. In supporting the measure, House members concluded that the indigent should not be saddled with unpayable debts, and that payment of restitution should take priority. To that end, HB 1390 eliminates interest on LFOs (other than those for restitution) and provides that indigent defendants cannot have discretionary court costs imposed on them. And the bill provides that the homeless or mentally ill not be jailed when they fail to pay. Equally important, that measure prioritizes payment of restitution to victims. These provisions make sense – both in terms of being financially prudent, and toward creating an efficient, effective and more fair system of justice.

HB 1390 is now pending in the Senate, and it deserves to be passed. The Senate should ensure that HB 1390 remains a comprehensive solution to the myriad problems with Washington’s LFO systems. Policies that prevent people from getting a second chance need to be changed.

Washington can, and should, lead the way.