Compounding and complicating feelings of justice: LFOs and legal legitimacy in Georgia, Minnesota, and Washington State

Legal financial obligations (LFOs) have become a significant element of the US criminal legal system, imposing fines and fees that disproportionately impact low-income individuals and perpetuate cycles of poverty, surveillance, and punishment. This study extends recent work that shows how LFOs erode trust in the legal system by examining this relationship through the lens of jurisdictional variation in penal practices. Drawing on 181 semi-structured interviews collected from individuals with LFO debt across Georgia, Minnesota, and Washington State as part of the Multi-State Study of Monetary Sanctions, we uncover how experiences with LFOs lead to perceptions of injustice. We identified three penal practices that shape an individuals’ belief that the legal system is fair and just: (1) having to pay LFOs on top of serving time in prison, jail, or under community supervision; (2) being charged LFOs in multiple jurisdictions simultaneously; and (3) the use of public–private partnerships to administer penal services. Our findings highlight critical implications for legal legitimacy and LFOs and propose avenues for future research and policy reform aimed at addressing the inequities inherent in the system of monetary sanctions.