A new California law Gov. Gavin Newsom signed late last week forbids counties from charging criminal defendants a number of fees that can keep people in debt long after they leave the judicial system.
The law repeals several fees, including the public defense fee, the criminal justice administration fee, the city and county booking fees, parole supervision fees and others.
The signing earned the praise of California lawmaker Sen. Holly J. Mitchell, D-Los Angeles, who tweeted in response that “for decades, (California) has allowed court ordered fees to take away needed resources from families and communities of color, deepening the wounds of systemic racism in our criminal justice system.”
“By eliminating the 23 most harmful of these criminal administrative fees, we will put money back in the pockets of Black and brown people while we invest in public health and safety throughout our communities,” Mitchell wrote.
The law does not affect restitution, meaning defendants would still be compelled to pay any money they owe to victims.
The bill also appropriates $65 million annually to go to the counties in order to backfill the lost revenue resulting from the repeal.
The law goes into effect July 1, 2021. California is the first state in the nation to repeal its administrative fees in the criminal system, according to the group Debt Free Justice California.
The group pointed out that these fees can add up to thousands of dollars for a single person, making it more difficult for that person to re-enter society.
“As a public defender, it is painful to watch clients be saddled with fees, knowing that they won’t be able to pay,” said Mano Raju, the elected public defender of San Francisco whose office is part of Debt Free Justice California. “The criminal legal system disrupts people’s lives and families in so many ways that adding financial penalties sets people up for failure when we should be setting them up for future success. By eliminating fees, we’re paving the way to more resilient communities.”
This story was originally published September 21, 2020 2:40 PM.
