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Description: As an additional resource, this handout gives a high level overview of the report.

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Court-ordered debt collected from defendants convicted of traffic violations or criminal offenses provides revenue to a number of state and local funds, which in turn support a variety of programs including trial court operations and victim assistance. As a result, the state has an interest in ensuring that such debt is collected in a cost-effective manner that maximizes the amount of revenue available to support these programs. Based on our review of the existing collections process for court-ordered debt, we believe that improvements can be made to help increase collections of such debt and the amount of revenue available for distribution to various state and local funds. Specifically, we recommend: (1) realigning the current court-ordered debt collection process to the courts, (2) piloting a new collections incentive model that would reward courts for improving collections, and (3) improving data collection to enable comprehensive evaluations of the performance of collection programs.

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