NCJ Number
196182
Date Published
April 2002
Length
59 pages
Annotation
This report presents an evaluative analysis of the Dallas County Financial Management Counseling Pilot Project (FMC), which uses a financial management counselor to assess an offender's financial situation and work with his/her personal creditors to delay or reduce monthly payments while the offender participates in the program; the overall purpose of the program is to help the "working poor" fulfill financial obligations to the sentencing court.
Abstract
The evaluation findings presented in this report are based on financial data collected during the program's pilot period (October 9, 2000, through December 31, 2001) as well as the pre-pilot period (July 1, 1999, through October 6, 2000). A significant majority of the FMC participants "strongly agreed" or "somewhat agreed" that they would recommend the FMC to others (80 percent); they recommended that the FMC become a permanent part of the Dallas County Collections Department. In a statistical comparison of two samples of defendants who were considered "high-risk" due to their heavy debt loads, a significantly greater number of defendants paid their fines, fees, and costs in full in the pilot sample (91 percent) compared with the pre-pilot sample (63 percent). There was also a significant increase in the percentage of money collected (92 percent) for the pilot sample compared to the pre-pilot sample (71 percent). During the 15-month pilot period, 83 percent of the defendants who were referred to and/or participated in the FMC paid their fines, fees, and costs in full. During the entire pilot period, 97 percent of the money assessed by the court was collected from defendants who were referred to and/or participated in the FMC. Given the actual expenditures for the 15-month period ($47,625), the net revenue realized from the pilot program most likely ranged from $61,688 to $136,489. 11 tables and appended program materials and forms, survey methodology and instruments, and interview questions