National Center for Access to Justice

Compare state justice policies, identify gaps and effective practices, and use evidence to inform reform and accountability.

Helps courts and policymakers identify policy approaches and state examples for fairer ability-to-pay decisions on unaffordable fines and fees.

Justice Index

The Justice Index is an online, data-intensive resource that researches and ranks states on selected laws and practices intended to ensure access to justice. Its six component indexes cover attorney access, self-representation access, language access, disability access, fines and fees, and consumer debt litigation. Data visualizations let visitors compare state scores, examine policy benchmarks and adoption trends, and view policy examples and citations. Users can explore combined rankings and download the source data. The findings support public understanding and efforts to advance policy reform.

• Compare State Policy Performance
  Visitors can compare states’ scores and rankings to see how each performs relative to others on the policies covered by an index.
• Explore Six Policy Areas
  Review findings across six policy areas that the Justice Index identifies as important to access to justice.
• Find Policy Benchmarks And Examples
  Visitors can see policy adoption trends, identify states with relevant laws and practices, and access citations to support further research.
• Support Evidence-Based Policy Reform
  Users can draw on the findings to understand their state's progress, support efforts to adopt best policies, and hold states accountable to laws and practices they have adopted.
• View Combined State Rankings
  Visitors can examine overall state rankings using the original four categories, then toggle additional views that include fines and fees and/or consumer debt litigation findings.
• Download Justice Index Data
  Visitors can download the source data to examine the findings beyond the on-page visualizations.

Ability to Pay: Closing the Access to Justice Gap with Policy Solutions for Unaffordable Fines and Fees

Published in 2024, this report examines state laws and practices for determining ability to pay and reducing unaffordable fines and fees. It presents ten policy models with specific state examples, providing a knowledge base for further evaluative research and potential replication. The models may also apply to areas such as child support, restitution, and consumer debt collection.

• Enable Waivers For All Fines And Fees
  The report highlights court authority to waive or modify all fines and fees as a threshold policy model, including charges that would otherwise remain mandatory.
• Require Reviews At Critical Decision Points
  The model calls for ability-to-pay determinations at multiple critical points, including before charges or nonpayment sanctions are imposed, and after incarceration.
• Support Individualized And Fair Determinations
  These protections help ensure that ability-to-pay decisions take account of the person's individual circumstances and are supported by relevant evidence and recorded findings.
• Recognize Indigency And Order Waivers
  Bright-line income standards and presumptions for people receiving public assistance or in equivalent circumstances can guide courts in determining when to order a waiver.
• Standardize Fines And Fees To Ability
  The report presents guidelines that direct how courts can assess affordable amounts, including accounting for essential household needs and applying reductions pegged to income.
• Make Payments More Manageable
  Payment plans can offer an alternative to full upfront payment. The report highlights monthly caps and an ability-to-pay assessment before setting the total amount to help prevent excessively lengthy plans.
• Help Judges Assess Affordable Amounts
  Official calculators, bench cards, and other tools can assist judges in determining fine and fee amounts with regard to a person's ability to pay.
• Reveal Financial Hardship And Living Costs
  The report's examples show how practitioner-created calculators and questionnaires can present information about living expenses and a person's financial hardship for ability-to-pay assessments.
• Scale Fines To Offense And Income
  By linking a fine to offense severity and daily income, day fines can result in different total amounts for people with different financial means.
• Offer Alternatives To Monetary Payment
  Community service and related alternatives can provide options besides payment. The report also identifies approaches to address undue hardship, limit required hours, and set fair compensation.