Defendants and offenders are charged for many government services that were once free, including those that are constitutionally required. Research establishes that court costs, fees, and fines exacerbate poverty for individuals in the adult criminal justice system and their families. However, I hypothesize that there is a more direct effect of fines on recidivism and test it on the ex-prisoner cohort from Maricopa County, Arizona. While the research concludes that “Tarrif fine” does have some positive and significant effect on recidivism, I do not find conclusive evidence on the impact of fines on recidivism.
