NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the American Probation and Parole Association supports and encourages agencies to do the following:
- Emphasize the payment of restitution owed to victims over other assessments, fines, fees and surcharges;
- Obtain and provide payment ability information to the Court at the time release decisions are being made so as to avoid unfair economic hardship and continued incarceration as a result of inability to pay the bail amount;
- Use actuarial risk assessments to provide information for release decisions so those lower risk individuals may be released pending court proceedings;
- Take into consideration a justice-involved individual’s ability to pay prior to making a recommendation to the Court relating to discretionary financial assessments and monthly payment amounts;
- Encourage legislators to revise State laws to enable Courts the discretion to waive certain fines and fees based on the an individual’s ability to pay, as well as eliminate interest rates and collection fees;
- Re-evaluate a probationer’s ability to pay during the supervision period when financial circumstances change, and make requests of the Court to modify payment amounts based on that ability to pay;
- Not recommend incarceration for any individual solely as a result of inability to pay Court-ordered financial sanctions;
- Maximize the use of graduated responses as appropriate and as possible to address willful non-compliance with financial conditions of supervision to avoid incarceration and revocation proceedings; and
- Use, as permitted by State law, the ability of the individual to complete community restitution hours to satisfy Court-ordered financial sanctions.