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Experts tell House committees juvenile fees and fines harm youth and produce minimal county revenue
Summary
At a joint hearing on House Bill 1385, researchers and clinicians urged eliminating most juvenile fees and fines, saying such sanctions deepen poverty, prolong supervision and correlate with higher recidivism while counties collect little revenue from them.
Lawmakers heard layered testimony urging repeal of most juvenile court fees and fines under House Bill 1385, with advocates presenting statewide data, county fiscal analysis and client examples showing harms and limited fiscal benefit.
Nadia Mezafer, senior attorney at Juvenile Law Center, summarized new research (Heavy Burdens) showing that fees and fines place burdens on youth and families, prolong system involvement and generate negligible county revenue. Mezafer told the committee that counties collected, on average, only 58% of 2023…
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