The Justice Department is stepping up pressure on state and local judges to reduce fines and fees charged in their courts, practices that leave the poor, juvenile offenders and people of color disproportionately saddled with debt.

Many localities around the country use revenue from fines and the surcharges imposed by judges in criminal, civil and juvenile court to pay for court expenses, even judge’s salaries, or to supplement state or local government budgets.

Officials across the political spectrum have long acknowledged that the practice is damaging and discriminatory, with wide-ranging consequences in conservative and liberal states alike.

The Justice Department’s third-highest-ranking official, Vanita Gupta, informed local judges and juvenile courts on Thursday that imposing fines and fees without accounting for a person’s financial status violated constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment.

Doing so “may erode trust between local governments and their constituents, increase recidivism, undermine rehabilitation and successful re-entry, and generate little or no net revenue,” Ms. Gupta, the associate attorney general, wrote in a letter.

To Americans able to pay their debt to government agencies, such penalties, which can range from a few dollars to hundreds, are a minor nuisance. To the poor and to new immigrants, it can lead to catastrophe, “including escalating debt, being subjected to changes in immigration status, and loss of one’s employment, driver’s license, voting rights, or home, among others,” Ms. Gupta added. [MORE]