According to the Denver Post, the amount owed to the State in fines and court costs could cut the state deficit in half. That is about $215 million and fines and costs, not including the additional $563 million restitution owed to victims.
Fines are typically ordered in nearly all criminal cases. They are part of the criminal sentence. Just how much you are ordered to pay depends on the offense you are convicted of.
Judges do have a little leeway in determining fines. They can also order restitution be paid to the victims.
Interestingly, the majority of fines and restitution are never paid. This is due to a variety of reasons. The accused could be imprisoned and have no assets or they could be unemployed, disabled, or otherwise not have the money.
As this article points out, many times large fines and restitution are ordered even when the judge knows the accused won’t be able to pay just in case they should come in to some money, through an inheritance, for example.
A group of collectors work for the state, tirelessly tracking down the money that is owed. In the time those people have been working to collect, the collection rate has grown from 25-50% depending on jurisdiction.
In most criminal cases, the defendant is worried about the potential prison or jail term they may have to serve first and they worry about the fines second. While this is understandable, the fines will be there once you are released and the State will do what it has to in order to make sure that they are paid.
Being caught in possession of less than one ounce of marijuana could get you a fine of only $100 while possessing more than 8 ounces could land you a fine up to $100,000. Some theft crimes can bring fines upwards of $750,000.
Those are just the fines and don’t count any restitution that might be ordered.
If you are facing criminal charges and worried about the fines and the jail time you may be sentenced to, call me today. We can discuss the potential sentence that might await you or possible ways we can work to get the charges dismissed.
in 2002 Colorado enacted a law that requires the department of revenue to intercept taxes of ex-cons who have been ordered to pay court ordered costs, fines or restitution. The law was not made retroactive. Since then, however, the state has been intercepting my income taxes and rebates claiming a lawful right so to do, but I contend that they cannot do this because the law wasn’t enacted until two years after after my convictions and prison release. How can I defend against this action by the state?