2023 Mississippi Court Debt Survey

  • 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.
  • Gender
  • Are you a court clerk or local elected official?
  • 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?
  • 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.

  • 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)
  • 2. Are you currently under supervision for a felony or a misdemeanor?
  • 3. Have you ever been under supervision for a felony or misdemeanor?
  • 4. Are you currently on the following? Check all that apply.
  • 5. Have you ever been on the following? Check all that apply.
  • 6. Have you ever been turned down for a diversion program (Drug Court, DA Diversion, Community Corrections, CRO) because you could not afford it?
  • 7. Have you ever been kicked out of a diversion program for failure to make payments?
  • 8. Have you ever been declared indigent by the court, appointed a lawyer, orrepresented by a public defender?
  • 9. Have you ever been denied housing due to a criminal record?
  • 10. Have you ever been denied employment due to a criminal record?

  • 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.
  • 2. Were any of the payments made for a juvenile in juvenile court?
  • 3. What types of fees or payments have you made? Check all that apply
  • 4. Have you ever had to pay any of the following fees associated with a fine in municipal court? Check all that apply.
  • 6. Did you challenge the court assessment of your fines and fees?
  • 8. Have you made multiple payments over a period of time?
  • 10. If you are unsure of how long, can you give us your best guess?
  • 11. Do you feel you will be able to pay what you owe?
  • 12. Have you ever had to choose between paying for necessities such as food, utilities, rent, and court costs, fines, and/or fees?
  • 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.
  • 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?
  • 15. Have you ever used a payday or title loan to pay for any court costs, fines and/or fees?
  • 16. Have you ever borrowed money from a relative or friend to pay any court costs, fines, and/or fees?
  • 17. Have you ever been offered community service instead of paying court costs, fines, and/or fees?
  • 19. Have you ever had to commit a crime to get money to pay court costs, fines, and/or fees?
  • 20. IF YES, what did you have to do?
  • 22. If you don’t know or are unsure of how much you owe, what would be your best guess?

  • 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?
  • 2. Have you ever been jailed for failure to pay court costs, fines, and/or fees?
  • 3. Have you ever had the amount you owe increased due to failure to pay court costs, fines, and/or fees?
  • 4. Have you ever had the amount you owe decreased due to failure to pay court costs, fines, and/or fees?
  • 5. Is it clear to you whether you can ask for your court debt payments to be reduced or deferred?
  • 6. Have you ever had money taken out of your paycheck to cover any court costs, fines, and/or fees?
  • 7. Has your driver’s license ever been suspended for failure to pay court costs, fines, and/or fees?
  • 8. Have you ever had money taken out of your Mississippi income tax return to pay for any court costs, fines, and/or fees?
  • 9. Have you ever been jailed for failure to pay child support?
  • 10. Have you ever taken out a payday or title loan to pay child support?

  • 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.
  • 2. Have you helped make payments for this person over a period of time?
  • 5. Have you ever borrowed money from a family member or friend to pay for SOMEONE ELSE’S court costs, fines, and/or fees?
  • 6. Have you ever taken out a payday or title loan to pay for someone else’s court costs, fines, and/or fees?
  • 7. Have you ever had to choose between paying court costs, fines, and/or fees forsomeone else and necessities such as food and utilities?

  • Section V

    The final section is about you. Please answer each question to the best of your ability.
  • 1. What is your marital status?
  • 2. How many dependents do you have?
  • 3. What is the highest level of education you have completed?
  • 4. In the past 30 days, where have you lived most of the time?
  • 5. Are you currently employed? (If not, skip to question 12).
  • 6. Do you work full-time or part-time?
  • 7. Do you receive a paycheck? (If not, skip to question 12).
  • 8. IF YES, how often do you get paid?
  • 10. What other sources of income do you have?
  • 11. What is the level of your annual household income?
  • 12. Do you currently have a driver’s license?
  • 13. If not, why not?
  • 14. What is your primary mode of transportation?
  • 15. Do you have auto insurance?
  • 16. Do you have a bank account at this time?
  • 18. Are you registered to vote?
  • 19. If not, why not?
  • 20. Have you lost your right to vote due to a felony conviction?
  • 21. If so, have you submitted a suffrage application to restore your right to vote?
  • 22. If not, are you interested in submitting a suffrage application to restore your right to vote?
  • 23. Are you interested in a Know Your Rights training for your community?
  • 24. Can we follow up with you regarding the information shared in this survey?

  • Section VI

    This section is for court clerks and local elected officials. Please answer each question to the best of your ability.
  • 2. If you don’t know or are unsure of the amount, what would be your best guess?
  • 5. Are you interested in a Know Your Rights training for your community?
  • 6. Can we follow up with you regarding the information shared in this survey?

  • Section VII

    Additional Comments
  • Should be Empty: