The criminal justice system has increasingly imposed fees, costs, and charges as well as fines and restitution amounts, on people who are convicted, or sometimes merely accused, of crimes over the past decade. The result: a dramatic increase in debt among people with conviction records. Such indebtedness exacerbates the challenges facing them by reducing family income, limiting access to housing, credit, transportation, and employment, exposing them to reincarceration for parole violations (not paying debt owed the court, etc.), and even increasing the likelihood of re-offending. For many of these individuals it is not a willful decision not to pay, but rather a lack of income, assets, and resources to pay that keeps them in debt. As a result, an individual can become trapped in the complex web of the criminal justice system, debt, and poverty.

The Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law and the Illinois Asset Building Group will cosponsor a free webinar exploring criminal defendant/prisoner debt in the U.S. and its effects on reentry and asset building opportunities. American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) attorneys Carl Takei and Eric Balaban will discuss recent data on the level criminal debt and its impacts individuals and society at large. Rebecca Vallas, an attorney with the National Organization of Social Security Claimants' Representatives, will examine effective programs and policies for mitigating such impacts.

Join us for this free webinar on Thursday September 12th at 3:30 EST.

Register here.