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Recovering Correctional Costs Through Offender Fees

NCJ Number
125084
Author(s)
D Parent
Date Published
1990
Length
65 pages
Annotation
This analysis of the use of correctional fees for adult offenders used data from a literature review, a survey of State practices, and site visits in Texas, Florida, and Oregon.
Abstract
The correctional fees examined include program fees for supervision and room and board and service fees for drug use testing, antabuse, community service, and health services. Twenty-eight states authorize fees for probationers, 26 for jail inmates, 15 for parolees, and 39 for prison inmates. Revenue generation is the main justification for using fees, although the effectiveness of fees as revenue sources varies widely among these States. Decisionmakers who want to increase revenues from fee collections should maximize correctional agencies' incentives to collect, emphasize supervision and room and board fees, levy fees on large numbers of offenders, avoid considering fee issues in setting the length of supervision, and avoid low supervision fees. They should also establish cost-effective fee waiver procedures, develop certain and credible responses for non-payment, provide effective management information on fee collection, and evaluate employees' fee collection performance. List of research issues, tables, and appended discussions of fee collection practices in specific states.