Putnam County has seen improvements in collecting criminal court fines after ramping up collection efforts two years ago.
Circuit Court Clerk Jennifer Wilkerson said two years ago the county had an estimated $100 million in old outstanding debt from criminal court. Wilkerson said that since the program started, nearly $1 million has been collected from the debt. Wilkerson said educating people about criminal fines has been a major contributing factor.
“Sometimes we were finding that when we are educating folks, that they didn’t, they just forgot,” Wilkerson said. “You know, they have all kinds of things in life that are getting in the way, and they had forgotten that this debt existed, or that they, you know, thought that once their punishment or their sanction or sentence was complete, that they were done.”
Wilkerson said her office is meeting individuals as they leave court, sending letters, and using more phone calls as part of the ramped-up effort. Wilkerson said it is important to continue to collect on criminal fines as the criminal justice system is incredibly expensive to operate.
“Those court costs are intended to be a component that would help each individual county government pay for that criminal justice system,” Wilkerson said. “It certainly doesn’t cover the entire cost, but it is something that helps.”
Wilkerson said not paying criminal fines comes with consequences for individuals. Wilkerson said sometimes people can get in more trouble due to having a suspended license because of delinquent criminal fines. Though sometimes criminal fines can be daunting for some individuals, they can find a path to getting them paid.
“Legislation was passed that charges clerks with the responsibility of evaluating and looking at a person’s financial means are,” Wilkerson said. “So you are looking to see what can they afford? So we are looking at their income, we are looking at some of their expenses, and we have folks who are in extreme financial situations. So once we’ve evaluated that, then we can go back to the appropriate authority, which is your judges, and have some conversations about each particular situation. And if it’s something that we can see, that it’s just, you know, we can set those payment plans. Our judges have been really great about working with folks to try and see if we can get those payment plans in a manageable place for them.”
Wilkerson said on average her office collects about $2 million in criminal fines. Wilkerson said the goal is to continue chipping away at the outstanding debt from criminal court.
