Income Extraction via the Criminal Legal System: A Community-Level Perspective

Sarah K. S. Shannon; Ryan Larson; Ian Kennedy; Kate K. O'Neill; Alexes Harris

doi:10.1177/23780231241257147

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Income Extraction via the Criminal Legal System: A Community-Level Perspective

Journal article

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Income Extraction via the Criminal Legal System: A Community-Level Perspective

Sarah K. S. Shannon, Ryan Larson, Ian Kennedy, Kate K. O'Neill and Alexes Harris

Socius : sociological research for a dynamic world, Vol.10, 23780231241257147

01/01/2024

DOI: 10.1177/23780231241257147

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Abstract

Legal financial obligations (LFOs) are financial penalties imposed by U.S. criminal courts that generate disproportionate negative effects for poor and minoritized individuals and communities. In this visualization, the authors use court administrative data for all criminal cases in Washington and Minnesota from 2010 to 2015 to measure community-level income extraction via LFOs in Seattle and Minneapolis-St. Paul. Unlike previous measures of LFOs at the community level, the authors calculate the proportion of income in a given census tract that is extracted in the form of LFOs. This operationalization makes it possible to ask, given a tract-year's existing income per capita, what proportion of that income went toward LFOs from cases sentenced. The authors' maps demonstrate that disadvantaged communities pay a higher share of their income in LFOs compared with more advantaged neighborhoods, perpetuating social control and poverty at the neighborhood level.

Social Sciences

Sociology

Details

Title: Subtitle: Income Extraction via the Criminal Legal System: A Community-Level Perspective
Creators: Sarah K. S. Shannon - University of Georgia
Ryan Larson - Hamline University
Ian Kennedy - University of Illinois Chicago
Kate K. O'Neill - University of Iowa
Alexes Harris - University of Washington
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Socius : sociological research for a dynamic world, Vol.10, 23780231241257147
DOI: 10.1177/23780231241257147
ISSN: 2378-0231
eISSN: 2378-0231
Publisher: Sage
Number of pages: 3
Grant note: P2C HD042828 / Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development research infrastructure University of Washington from Arnold Ventures (Alexes Harris, principal investigator)
Language: English
Date published: 01/01/2024
Academic Unit: Sociology and Criminology; Center for Social Science Innovation
Record Identifier: 9984696710302771

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