SEATTLE — A University of Washington report finds disparities in how much the state’s convicted felons are required to pay in fines and fees, and questions whether those penalties make for good public policy.
The researchers first completed the report last fall for the state Minority and Justice Commission, and the university released it to reporters on Tuesday, as the Legislature weighs three bills that concern the penalties.
The report highlights what the researchers describe as tension between two important goals: making sure criminals pay for what they’ve done, and helping them transition back into society afterward, without resorting to crime again.
Among the findings: Hispanics were given higher fines than non-Hispanic whites for similar offenses; men were fined more than women; and drug cases resulted in fines and fees higher than violent crimes, although violent crimes carried longer prison terms.
The researchers — sociology professors Katherine Beckett and Alexes Harris, and doctoral student Heather Evans — based the report on data from all 3,366 Superior Court cases resolved around the state in the first two months of 2004.
They plugged data about the cases — including the charge, county and offender’s criminal history score — into a statistical analysis to isolate which factors had a significant effect on the amount of fines, fees and restitution imposed.
Hispanic was the only category of race or ethnicity that appeared to have such an effect, Harris said, but the researchers did not quantify how much more Hispanics were fined than non-Hispanic whites.
While men faced higher fines than women, that appeared to make sense, they said, because fines are based in part on ability to pay. Men generally are paid more than women.
The researchers also noted that the 12 percent interest charged on such financial obligations begins as soon as the defendant is sentenced — whether or not the defendant still must do jail time. As a result, the interest piles up even if defendants can’t work.
There were also geographic differences, with defendants in less-populous counties being required to pay more. In King County, median fines and fees for a felony conviction totaled $600, while the corresponding figures in Clark and Whitman counties were $2,170 and $7,049, respectively.
The median statewide figure was $1,110.
One man convicted of drug offenses in Pierce County was assessed fees and fines of $600, while one with a comparable criminal history convicted of the same charge in Lewis County was assessed $6,710, the report noted.
The report suggested that the fines make it less likely that newly released convicts can afford stable housing, and if they can’t find stable housing, they’re less likely to find jobs. If they don’t pay the fines — by 2007, only about half the defendants in the study had made any payments — they risk further jail time.
And given that so few defendants pay, the researchers said, it’s not clear it’s worth the state’s time trying to make them pay up.
The authors recommended immediately stopping all fines and fees except the $500 mandatory victim assessment, required by law, and any restitution. Other fines and fees can include legal fees, court fees and fees for DNA or drug testing.
That recommendation might be a bit drastic to try out during a financial crisis, King County Superior Court Judge Debra Fleck said.
“The information in this study is important both for the courts to review internally and to review with our legislators,” said Fleck, who serves on the Minority and Justice Commission. “Judges and legislators all want essentially the same thing: They want to hold defendants accountable and protect the public, but they’re also very focused on not having repeat offenders.”
The Legislature is considering one bill that would restore civil rights, including voting rights, to felons once they’ve served their prison time, whether or not they’ve satisfied their financial obligations, and another that would prevent interest from accruing on financial obligations until after the convict is released from custody. The third concerns fees charged by court clerks for collecting legal financial obligations.
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