Policy Statement
2		 Coordinate—and ideally integrate—distinct agencies' policies, procedures, and information systems so that the fines, fees, surcharges, and restitution orders of each person sentenced to prison or jail are consolidated to improve collection rates, where possible, and child support and restitution are prioritized appropriately.
Recommendation
B		 Give priority to the children and victims of people released from prisons and jails at the time of sentencing and when disbursing payments to their intended recipients.

As mentioned previously, child support is not a criminal sanction, and it is prioritized by federal law over obligations a person may owe to victims or the state. People released from prison and jail owing child support, restitution, and fines, fees, and surcharges, and with little earnings, may nevertheless feel compelled to choose which payment not to make. In addition, as also noted earlier, some states have policies that direct payments first to courts, corrections departments, and other criminal justice agencies before they direct payments to victims for restitution. In these cases, victims may feel ignored as they watch the person make payments to governmental agencies and wait for the restitution owed to them.

For these reasons, policymakers should enable judges to consider an individual’s obligations to his or her children at the time of sentencing. Policymakers should also enable personnel responsible for distributing dollars collected from people released from prisons and jails to prioritize, after child support, the payment of restitution to victims before obligations to criminal justice agencies, third parties (such as insurance companies), or the city, county, or state.

Sentencing and Restitution Statutes, Wisconsin

Wisconsin's sentencing statute (Wis. Stat. 302.373) enables judges, when ordering that an individual pay fees to reimburse the state for the costs of his or her incarceration, to reduce this order by the amount of that individual's child support obligations. A separate, restitution statute (Wis. Stat. 973.20) prioritizes the payment of restitution to victims over other obligations to the state, including fines, fees, and the costs of representation.


Federal Child Support Enforcement Policies and Reentry

  • Federal law prioritizes child support obligations above all other debts owed to the state, including restitution, fines, fees, and surcharges.1
  • Child support is determined by federal standards and administered by designated state child support enforcement agencies (which may be housed within a state’s attorney general’s office, health department, or social service agency); its collection cannot be consolidated with that of restitution, or court-ordered fines, fees, and surcharges.2 Where possible and legally permissible, agencies responsible for consolidating debts should communicate regularly with state or local child support enforcement officials to determine the amount of an individual’s child support obligations and factor this into the schedule and amount of his or her payments toward court-ordered financial obligations.
  • Federal law prohibits child support enforcement agencies from reducing child support debts owed to custodial parents once these debts have accumulated. Federal law does, however, allow states to forgive child support payments that noncustodial parents are required to pay to reimburse the state for TANF payments to support the child.3
  • Child support enforcement officials can garnish as much as 65 percent of a noncustodial parent’s wages toward the payment of child support debt.4 For parents released from prisons and jails, this practice may increase the difficulty of securing and maintaining housing, transportation, and employment that are necessary for making future child support payments.

1 42 U.S.C. § 666.

2 Child Support Enforcement Council, “How the Child Support System Works,” retrieved at www.csecouncil.org/industry/system.htm, November 18, 2006.

3 42 U.S.C. § 666 (a)(9).

4 15 U.S.C. § 1673.