Issues and Agencies: The Alabama Department of Corrections
In that same year, Alabama had the most overcrowded prisons in the nation. Alabama’s prisons were designed to hold 12,115 prisoners, but instead housed 21,046 prisoners, 174% of the system’s designed capacity. (Data is unavailable for the states of Ohio, Missouri, and Connecticut). Alabama has added no capacity since, and the state’s custodial prisoner […]
“Low-hanging fruit” or “blood out of a turnip”? As tax revenue slows, lawmakers in Alabama and across the United States may turn to court costs.
Sluggish tax collections could set the stage nationally for new hikes in court costs, fines, and fees. That’s according to a recent article by The Pew Charitable Trusts, which observes that “many of the fiscal conditions that in recent decades led to this heavy reliance on fines and fees—federal retrenchment, slowing state tax revenue, and […]
Joint Interim Court Cost Study Commission Recommends Standardization, Transparency, and Reform to “Patchwork” System of Fees
For over a decade, PARCA has documented the role of court costs as they exist at the intersection of public finance and public safety, sometimes providing the only analysis of this important source of revenue. In a report sent to lawmakers earlier this week, Chief Justice Sarah Stewart writes that Alabama lawmakers should standardize court […]
Local Court Fee Increases Associated with Increased Jail Detention, New Research Finds
New research led by the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama (PARCA) and MDRC indicates that each additional $100 in cumulative court fees for criminal cases is associated with an additional 34 jail detentions per 100,000 people at the county level. This small but significant increase suggests that fee increases could increase detention rather than deter it. […]
Data-informed Decision Making Helps Drive Down Overdose Deaths in 2024
The sharp drop in overdose deaths in 2024, both nationally and in Jefferson County, wasn’t an accident, according to members of the task force that works to combat the epidemic of drug-related deaths. Instead, it resulted from public policy changes and the geographically targeted deployment of resources. Figure 1. Trends in Accidental Drug and Opioid […]
Birmingham-Jefferson County Justice Governance Partnership Launched to Strengthen Justice and Opportunity
Leaders from city and county government, education, philanthropy, social services, and community are launching a new partnership to decrease violence and increase health and opportunity in Jefferson County. Coming in the wake of a record-setting year for homicides in the City of Birmingham, the Birmingham-Jefferson County Justice Governance Partnership (BJC-JGP) seeks to build a coordinated […]