Across the country, states, counties, and juvenile courts impose various fines and fees on youth in the juvenile legal system. The assessment and collection of costs, such as those associated with drug testing, electronic monitoring, probation, and supervision, significantly punishes youth and their families for failure to pay, contributes to racial inequities, and increases the likelihood of recidivism. In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, advocates urged state and local officials to suspend the assessment and collection of juvenile fines and fees. Over the course of the pandemic, the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on low-income communities and communities of color has highlighted the harmful practice.
Please join Penn Law’s Youth Advocacy Project for a discussion with Berkeley Law’s Policy Advocacy Clinic and the Juvenile Law Center about the imposition of fines and fees and national and state efforts to eliminate the practice. For years, the Policy Advocacy Clinic and the Juvenile Law Center have helped lead the fight to end the collection of fines and fees, and in September 2021, they, along with the National Center for Youth Law, launched a campaign—Debt Free Justice—to abolish fines and fees in juvenile delinquency cases.
When we talk about criminal justice reform, we cannot overlook the juvenile legal system. We hope you can join us in discussing why imposing fines and fees on youth is a racial and economic justice issue and how we can abolish the practice.
Youth Advocacy Project (YAP)
Rachel Wallace, Clinical Teaching Fellow at Policy Advocacy Clinic, Berkeley Law
Jessica Feierman, Senior Managing Director, Juvenile Law Center
Marcus Jarvis, Outreach and Communications Associate, Debt Free Justice Campaign, Juvenile Law Center
Jeffrey Selbin, Chancellor’s Clinical Professor of Law and Faculty Director of Policy Advocacy Clinic, Berkeley Law
Kara Finck, Practice Professor of Law and Director of Interdisciplinary Child Advocacy Clinic, Penn Carey Law