Guest column: Benton County needs to re-evaluate LFO system

Legal Financial Obligation (LFO) is a term that has a certain amount of gravitas.

It does indeed carry a lot of weight for scores of indigent people in Benton County, and in many other jurisdictions throughout the United States. In many instances, the LFO far exceed the value of the underlying offense. Individuals find themselves behind bars, not because of the initial act that brought them to the court, but because financial reality makes it impossible for them to pay the draconian fees imposed by the courts.

There are numerous categories of LFOs listed for Washington courts, including court filings, bench warrants, jury fees, and a catch all of “other fines.” Costs can quickly add up to thousands of dollars. Taxpayers end up footing the bill for incarceration and get nothing in return, aside from a bill for additional staff to deal with jail overcrowding issues.

The system has drawn comparisons to the “debtor’s prisons,” which thrived in Medieval times and the Victorian Era, but were banned by most Western civilizations nearly 200 years ago. Two major distinctions exist between the debtor’s prisons of days past and the LFO burden that is responsible for between 20 percent and 25 percent of the prison population in Benton County:

▪ Debtor’s prisons originally were established to jail recalcitrant borrowers — those who refused or were not able to pay private debt. The power of the courts was invoked to force payment. In the modern version, the courts themselves impose the debt.

▪ The “original” debtor’s prisons were ecumenical in their application of justice — the well-to-do were subject to incarceration along with the destitute. In fact, two signers of the Declaration of Independence spent time in jail for neglecting loans. In today’s justice system, the well off pay their fines and go home; the poor enter a revolving door of fines, fees and little opportunity to get free of the system.

The Washington state Legislature commissioned a report in 2008, which found that only a small amount of the assessed fees are ever recovered. The system continues to provide no financial benefit for the courts, since costs routinely exceed funds recovered, or for the defendants who find themselves trapped in the system with little chance for improving their lot.

Both the U.S. Supreme Court and the Washington Supreme Court have required that trial courts must determine an offender’s ability to pay — only those who willfully refuse can be jailed. Unfortunately, judges don’t even conduct an assessment of the defendant’s ability to pay before sentencing them to jail time, making the willfulness evaluation arbitrary at best.

The Benton County court system is one of the few jurisdictions in Washington that continues to practice this particular form of “justice,” despite criticism from the county prosecutor’s office and the county commissioners. Other courts have found a more productive means to enforce judgments without operating a program that loses money and does not overcrowd the jail system. On Oct.6, the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington filed a lawsuit on behalf of people who were directly affected by this practice. Perhaps the lawsuit will be enough to prompt a re-evaluation of this system. Common sense does not seem to be enough.

In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared War on Poverty, noting that “many Americans live on the outskirts of hope — some because of their poverty and some because of their color, and all too many because of both. Our task is to help replace their despair with opportunity.” Unfortunately, 50 years later, the war goes on; in Benton County, the battle strategy is to take more prisoners.

This story was originally published October 24, 2015 at 5:21 PM with the headline "Guest column: Benton County needs to re-evaluate LFO system."