| Policy Statement 1 |
Identify state and local laws and policies that address court orders for child support, victim restitution, and other fines, fees, and surcharges and determine how these laws and policies are used to govern collections made from people released from prisons and jails. |
| Recommendation C |
Develop an informed strategic plan for making improvements to the existing system based on the working group’s assessment of state and local laws and policies. |
Using the in-depth reports developed by members of the working group, case studies, diagrams, and other research that has been gathered, policymakers can begin to identify problem areas for potential policy intervention. With this information and other resources mentioned in this guide, policymakers can engage the working group in identifying policy options and exploring their feasibility.
For example, policymakers could discover that agencies responsible for collections are not consistently determining the ability of people released from prisons and jails to meet their court-ordered financial obligations and that people with ample financial resources may be paying less than they are able, while those with little ability to pay are given unrealistic payment plans that threaten long-term collections. In response to this finding, policymakers and other members of the working group could decide to require the use of a standardized form for assessing an individual’s income, assets, and expenses, and establish guidelines for using this information to develop a payment plan. As another example, the working group could find that collections are inconsistent among courts and decide to mandate that court administrators implement a proven collections program.
Mandatory Collections Improvement Program, Select City and County Courts, Texas
As part of its review of court collections policies in 2005, the Texas state legislature found that a voluntary Collections Improvement Program, developed by the state Office of Court Administration and being implemented in a handful of courts statewide, was effective in increasing compliance with court-ordered financial obligations.1 The legislature passed a bill requiring cities and counties with population levels above a certain threshold to implement the program and to provide annual reports about their collections practices. As a sanction for courts' noncompliance, the legislation denied the long-standing ability of city and county courts to retain 10 percent of the dollars they collected.2
Having gathered and organized information about collections policies, practices, and problems in their jurisdiction, policymakers should look to the policy statements, recommendations, and other resources in this guide for strategies to address the problems they have identified.
1 Personal communication, Jim Lehman, Collections Program Manager, Office of Court Administration, Texas, November 27, 2006.
2 Texas S.B. 1863: Tex. Code of Crim. Proc. § 103. 0033.