One Voice and its partners are collecting information on the impact of court costs, fines, and fees in the criminal legal system.
2023 Mississippi Court Debt Survey
This survey is totally ANONYMOUS. You will not be asked to give us your name to participate in this survey. Please fill in each bubble and answer each question to the best of your ability. If you have any questions at any time or are unsure of your answer, please ask the survey monitor for help.
Age
Gender
Male
Female
Other
Zip Code
Race
Please Select
White
African American
Latino / Hispanic
Asian / Pacific Islander
Black / West Indian
Bi-Racial
Other
Are you a court clerk or local elected official?
Yes
No
Do you currently owe, or have you ever owed any court costs, fines, and/or feesnot including traffic tickets where you didn’t go to court and didn’t pay over time?
Yes
No
Have you ever paid any court costs, fines, and/ or fees for someone else? If youanswered YES to one or both of these questions, please continue.
Yes
No
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Section I
This section is about your experience. If you have never personally owed any court costs, but have paid for someone else, skip to section IV. To the best of your ability, please answer the following questions.
1. Have you ever been charged with? (check all that apply)
Traffic Violation
Speeding
DUI
Driving with a license
Misdemeanor (non-traffic)
Felony
2. Are you currently under supervision for a felony or a misdemeanor?
Yes
No
Unsure
3. Have you ever been under supervision for a felony or misdemeanor?
Yes
No
Unsure
4. Are you currently on the following? Check all that apply.
Community Corrections
Court Referral (CRO)
State Probation
Parole
Drug Court
DA Diversion
Private Probation
Other
5. Have you ever been on the following? Check all that apply.
Community Corrections
Court Referral (CRO)
State Probation
Parole
Drug Court
DA Diversion
Private Probation
Other
6. Have you ever been turned down for a diversion program (Drug Court, DA Diversion, Community Corrections, CRO) because you could not afford it?
Yes
No
7. Have you ever been kicked out of a diversion program for failure to make payments?
Yes
No
8. Have you ever been declared indigent by the court, appointed a lawyer, orrepresented by a public defender?
Yes
No
9. Have you ever been denied housing due to a criminal record?
Yes
No
10. Have you ever been denied employment due to a criminal record?
Yes
No
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Section II
This section is about court costs, fines/fees, and criminal justice debt that you owe. Please respond to the following questions to the best of your ability.
1. To which court have you paid fines and fees?
2. Were any of the payments made for a juvenile in juvenile court?
Yes
No
3. What types of fees or payments have you made? Check all that apply
Court costs and restitution (state)
Court costs/fines (municipal court)
Community corrections fees
Drug court fees
Probation supervision fees (state)
CRO fees
Court ordered child support
4. Have you ever had to pay any of the following fees associated with a fine in municipal court? Check all that apply.
Bad check fee
Payment plan fee
Collection fee
Failure to appear fee
If so, which and how much?
5. How much have you paid for court costs, fines, and/or fees?
6. Did you challenge the court assessment of your fines and fees?
Yes
No
7. If yes, what was the outcome?
8. Have you made multiple payments over a period of time?
Yes
No
9. How long were you in a situation where you owed court costs, fines, and/or fees?
10. If you are unsure of how long, can you give us your best guess?
Less than a year
1 to 5 years
6 to 10 years
More than 10 years
More than 20 years
I still owe money
11. Do you feel you will be able to pay what you owe?
Yes
No
12. Have you ever had to choose between paying for necessities such as food, utilities, rent, and court costs, fines, and/or fees?
Yes
No
13. IF YES, please tell us what you had to give up to pay for court costs, fines and/or fees. Check all that apply.
Food/Groceries
Utilities
Rent
Medical Bills
Child Support
Car Payments
Other
14. Have you ever accepted food or money for things like utilities from a church or faith-based organization because you did not have money after paying your court costs, fines, and/or fees?
Yes
No
15. Have you ever used a payday or title loan to pay for any court costs, fines and/or fees?
Yes
No
16. Have you ever borrowed money from a relative or friend to pay any court costs, fines, and/or fees?
Yes
No
17. Have you ever been offered community service instead of paying court costs, fines, and/or fees?
Yes
No
18. How much of your court costs, fines, and/or fees have you received for an hour of community service?
19. Have you ever had to commit a crime to get money to pay court costs, fines, and/or fees?
Yes
No
20. IF YES, what did you have to do?
Sell drugs
Steal
Other
21. How much do you currently owe for court costs, fines, and/or fees?
22. If you don’t know or are unsure of how much you owe, what would be your best guess?
Less than $500
$500-$999
$1,000-$4,999
$5,000- $9,999
$10,000-$19,999
$20,000-$29,999
$30,000-$39,999
$40,000-$49,999
More than $50,000
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SECTION III
This section is about failure to make payments related to your personal court costs, fines/fees or criminal justice debt. Please answer each question to the best of your ability.
1. Have you ever been threatened with jail because you cannot pay court costs, fines, and/ or fees?
Yes
No
2. Have you ever been jailed for failure to pay court costs, fines, and/or fees?
Yes
No
3. Have you ever had the amount you owe increased due to failure to pay court costs, fines, and/or fees?
Yes
No
4. Have you ever had the amount you owe decreased due to failure to pay court costs, fines, and/or fees?
Yes
No
5. Is it clear to you whether you can ask for your court debt payments to be reduced or deferred?
Yes
No
6. Have you ever had money taken out of your paycheck to cover any court costs, fines, and/or fees?
Yes
No
7. Has your driver’s license ever been suspended for failure to pay court costs, fines, and/or fees?
Yes
No
Never had a license
8. Have you ever had money taken out of your Mississippi income tax return to pay for any court costs, fines, and/or fees?
Yes
No
Unsure
9. Have you ever been jailed for failure to pay child support?
Yes
No
10. Have you ever taken out a payday or title loan to pay child support?
Yes
No
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Section IV
This section applies to your experience in having to borrow money or make payments for SOMEONE ELSE’S court costs, fines, and/or fees. Please answer each question to the best of your ability.
1. Who have you made payments for? Check all that apply.
Family member
Friend
Other
2. Have you helped make payments for this person over a period of time?
Yes
No
3. What is the total amount of money you have given to someone else for court costs, fines, and/ or fees?
4. Were any of the payments made for a juvenile in juvenile court?
5. Have you ever borrowed money from a family member or friend to pay for SOMEONE ELSE’S court costs, fines, and/or fees?
Yes
No
6. Have you ever taken out a payday or title loan to pay for someone else’s court costs, fines, and/or fees?
Yes
No
7. Have you ever had to choose between paying court costs, fines, and/or fees forsomeone else and necessities such as food and utilities?
Yes
No
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Next
Section V
The final section is about you. Please answer each question to the best of your ability.
1. What is your marital status?
Married
Divorced
Separated
Single
I prefer not to say
2. How many dependents do you have?
No dependents
One
Two-Three
More than 4
I prefer not to say
3. What is the highest level of education you have completed?
Some high school
High school diploma/GED
Some college
2-year college degree
4-year college degree
4. In the past 30 days, where have you lived most of the time?
Apartment
House (Own or Rent)
Hospital
Nursing Home
Jail/Prison
Residential Treatment Center
Halfway House
Shelter/Homeless
Staying with friend/family member
5. Are you currently employed? (If not, skip to question 12).
Yes
No
6. Do you work full-time or part-time?
Full-time
Part-time
7. Do you receive a paycheck? (If not, skip to question 12).
Yes
No
8. IF YES, how often do you get paid?
Weekly
Bi-weekly
Monthly
By the job
Other
9. How many months have you been employed in your current job?
10. What other sources of income do you have?
Disability
SSI
Food Stamps
Other
11. What is the level of your annual household income?
Less than $19,000
$19,000-$31,000
$31,000-$52,000
$52,000-$89,000
$89,000-$197,000
$197,000-$485,000
$485,0000-or more
12. Do you currently have a driver’s license?
Yes
No
13. If not, why not?
Police took it
Cannot afford reinstatement fee
Cannot afford insurance
Never had one
14. What is your primary mode of transportation?
Car
Public Transportation
Friend/Family Member
Other
15. Do you have auto insurance?
Yes
No
16. Do you have a bank account at this time?
Yes
No
17. If you had to get money to stay out of jail, how much cash would you have access to today?
18. Are you registered to vote?
Yes
No
19. If not, why not?
Previous criminal conviction
Outstanding fines or fees
Never registered
Unsure
Choose not to vote
Other
20. Have you lost your right to vote due to a felony conviction?
Yes
No
Unsure
21. If so, have you submitted a suffrage application to restore your right to vote?
Yes
No
22. If not, are you interested in submitting a suffrage application to restore your right to vote?
Yes
No
23. Are you interested in a Know Your Rights training for your community?
Yes
No
24. Can we follow up with you regarding the information shared in this survey?
Yes
No
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Section VI
This section is for court clerks and local elected officials. Please answer each question to the best of your ability.
1. How much of your city’s budget is made up of court fines and fees collections?
2. If you don’t know or are unsure of the amount, what would be your best guess?
1-10%
10-20%
20-30%
30-40%
40-50%
50-60%
60-70%
70-80%
80-90%
90-100%
3. What court fines and fees does your city collect?
4. Are you interested in learning about alternatives to fines and fees debt collections?
5. Are you interested in a Know Your Rights training for your community?
Yes
No
6. Can we follow up with you regarding the information shared in this survey?
Yes
No
Back
Next
Submit
Section VII
Additional Comments
Do you have any comments or concerns related to this survey?
Should be Empty: