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District and circuit court fees: $0.25 to $300
Public defender applications: $25 to $50
Pre-trial electronic monitoring: $10 to $17 per day
Public defender reimbursement: $1,000 or more
Healthcare and medication fees while incarcerated: $2 to $4
Room and board for work release: $135 per week on average
Parole and probation fees: $50 per month
Baltimore County home detention fees: $34 initial payment; $75 per week
Drug testing: $100 initial fee; $6 for each random test
Expungement applications: $30 filing fee
Access to your own criminal records: $20 to be fingerprinted; $18 to request
Between court-mandated fines, fees, child support arrears and restitution, those who tangle with Maryland’s justice system incur a wallet-draining list of expenses, often leaving them in debt and prone to cyclical incarceration.
“Historically, the reason why fines and fees tend to fall on individuals and not necessarily on the state was for political reasons,” said Christopher Dews, who laid out all of these expenses for the state’s Financial Education and Capability Commission Wednesday.
According to Dews, a policy advocate for the Job Opportunities Task Force, “it’s very easy” for lawmakers to lower state taxes by pushing funding for the criminal justice system “onto the individuals within the criminal justice system.”
