‘Predatory’ NY Court Fees Could Be Banned Under New Law

NEW YORK CITY — Alisha Kohn, a transgendered womxn facing court-ordered rehab fees she could not pay, had a decision to make; she could enter male-oriented parole housing or she could engage in sex work.

“I had to do sex work,” Kohn said. “I wasn’t going to go back to prison for not taking the program.”

Kohn is among dozens of activists who appeared Wednesday morning at a state Senate hearing on the End Predatory Court Fees Act, which would eliminate court fees advocates argue make it a crime to be poor in New York.

Court fines, which accompany sentences, and fees, designed to raise revenue for the government, prove difficult for New Yorkers to pay and the city to collect, according to a recent report from Fines and Fees Justice Center.

In 2019, New York City criminal courts collected less than a third of $10 million of surcharges issued and its supreme courts collected just 16 percent of about $4 million imposed, the report found.

“Even for low-level violations, nonpayment of fees can lead to public court record and court debt that stays on the books for 20 years,” the report notes. “Worse, some localities routinely arrest and incarcerate people who are unable to pay.”

The New York Police Department is among law enforcement agencies that makes arrest on warrants for failure to pay court fines and fees, testified Brooklyn Defender Services representative Jackie Gosdigian.

Brooklyn courts often stay open late to handle an influx of New Yorkers who've been detained for failure to pay fines that sometimes amount to thousands of dollars, Gosdigian said.

"[They] go to jail for not having money to pay," Gosdigian said. "For being poor."

The report also raises concerns that Black and brown New Yorkers — whom state data show are more likely to face police stops, arrests and prison sentences — are overburdened by fees which are often paid by female family members.

Peggy Herrera, of the Center for Community Alternatives, is a widow and mother who pays the court fees of her son whom suffers from mental health issues and has found it difficult to find work, she testified Wednesday.

“You’re requiring him to pay something he doesn’t have,” Herrera said. “If I don’t pay it, he’s going to go to jail.”

Incarceration can also mean steep fees for detainees and their families, according to a 2019 from the city’s Comptroller’s office.
Friends and family sending money to detainees in 2018 paid more than $2 million in transfer fees for the $17 million that landed in jail accounts, the report found.

Katie Schaffer, of the Center for Community Alternatives, detailed the story of a mother whose incarcerated son suffered from Diabetes and needed cash to buy foods that regulate his blood sugar levels.

Sentencing, transfer and DNA fees sometimes claimed an estimated 80 percent of the income she had to send her son, Schaffer testified.

“It is impossible for him to afford what he needs,” Schaffer said. “You can't squeeze blood from a turnip.”

The End Predatory Court Fees Act, sponsored by Brooklyn state Sen. Julia Salazar, would eliminate certain fees, mandatory minimum fines and incarceration on the basis of unpaid fines and fees, state records show.

U.S. representatives Carolyn Maloney and Jerrold Naylor have both shown public support for the legislation, which has yet to pass through the state Senate.

Salazar, a Democrat, appeared at a rally in Albany before heading into the Crime Victims, Crime and Correction committee hearing.

"The criminalization of poverty through court fees is devastating, but not unusual,” Salazar said. “It doesn't need to be this way and it shouldn't be this way.”