Issue Brief-The Cost of Juvenile Probation: A Critical Look into Juvenile Supervision Fees

The National Juvenile Defender Center (NJDC) conducted a national survey on the practice and enforcement of supervision fees assessed for a child’s time on juvenile probation. Juvenile defenders and juvenile probation officers from the 50 states and D.C. were interviewed by NJDC legal staff to uncover the prevalence and impact of supervision fee practices on children in delinquency court. Given the localized nature of juvenile justice systems and practices in many states, the findings in this brief represent the practices as reported and are not necessarily statewide. While the report refers to findings applying to a certain number of “states,” the proposition should be interpreted as applying to at least one jurisdiction in that state.