ON THE MOVE
REFORM Alliance News
August 9, 2022
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A new season of fun and learning is underway as students are preparing to return to school. For many families this school year, a parent’s involvement with the criminal justice system will cause a significant burden on their children’s lives. In many states, individuals who have been convicted face steep fines and fees payments that can cost hundreds of dollars per month. These fines and fees compel individuals, particularly parents/guardians, to decide between financing their court debt or their family responsibilities, including bills, food, and back-to-school necessities.
In a report issued earlier this year with the Fines and Fees Justice Center, we revealed that probation and parole fees routinely trap individuals and their families in debt. Nationwide, two of every three people on probation make less than $20,000 per year, with nearly 40% of those making less than $10,000 annually and a criminal record can often make finding stable employment more difficult.
We want to continue to shed light on the challenges parents on supervision face so that we can improve outcomes for families across the country.
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Are you a parent who’s currently or has formerly been on parole/probation?
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Please tell us your story so we can share it with our REFORMers. Take a few minutes to fill out our survey here. Together, we can change minds, hearts, and laws.
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Apply Now: Social Media Fellowship
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We’re looking for self-starters who are eager to become criminal justice-focused content creators. Tik Tok is the fastest growing social media network in the world and it’s time to create a movement of creators who support reforming the system so it’s rooted in rehabilitation and opportunity.
The ideal candidate for the fellowship is a justice-impacted individual with passion for social media and reform.
The first class of fellows included 11 individuals. They participated in a 6-month program that taught them the fundamentals of TikTok and helped them go from 0 to 500,000 collective views.
With our fellowship program, we hope to create hundreds of content creators ready to share their stories, build their brands, power the movement, and change hearts and minds. People with direct experience of the systems we are working to change are strongly encouraged to apply.
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Join us at the highly anticipated Made In America Festival in Philadelphia on the 3rd and 4th of September. The festival, entering its tenth year running, will feature artists such as Tyler the Creator and Bad Bunny. We will be at Cause Village, a hub of social action organizations committed to criminal justice reform, female empowerment and youth development. We are excited to engage with members of the community about parole and probation reform and how they can get involved in this amazing work. Tickets can be found here.
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REFORM's Word of the Week
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Each week, REFORM Alliance will present a word as a tool to educate and inform all members about the various facets of the criminal justice system
According to a report issued by the Brennan Center, fines and fees are defined as:
Fine (noun)
fīn | fahyn
A monetary penalty imposed by the court charged to people in the justice system. Fines can be imposed in lieu of incarceration or in addition to incarceration / supervision. The sum of money due is often written in statute and based on the severity of the crime. These financial penalties are often intended as both a deterrence and punishment by the court and lawmakers.
Fees (plural noun)
/fē/
Fees are itemized payments for court activities, supervision, or incarceration charged to people in the justice system. Fees are automatically imposed and bear no relation to the offense committed. In most cases, fees are intended to shift the costs of the criminal justice system from taxpayers to defendants or people convicted of offenses, who are seen as the “users” of the courts.
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