California law allows counties to charge parents for every night their child is locked up, for renting ankle monitors, for alcohol and drug tests, for public defenders and for other costs. The fees are meant to help counties recoup their costs, without being excessive or unfair.

State Sens. Holly Mitchell, D-Los Angeles, and Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens, have put forward Senate Bill 190, which has a hearing Tuesday before the Senate Public Safety Committee, to end these fees. They say the fees do more harm than good because they are levied on some of the most vulnerable families in our state, often forcing them to choose between paying the debt or for basic necessities.

These harms are rarely offset by the revenue to fund county operations, as described by a report by the Policy Advocacy Clinic at UC Berkeley on juvenile detention fees in Alameda County. Alameda soon eliminated the fees, as did Contra Costa and Santa Clara counties.

But 80 percent of counties still charge the fees, according to the Policy Advocacy Clinic. The fees range from a total of about $950 in San Joaquin, $1,300 in Fresno, $2,150 in San Diego and $5,600 in Sacramento, based on 25 days in detention, 17 months on probation, 50 days of electronic monitoring and eight drug tests, according to a study being released later this month.

To read more of Anne Stuhldreher's article, please click here.

Anne Stuhldreher directs The Financial Justice Project for the city and county of San Francisco and is a fellow at New America. She can be contacted at anne.stuhldreher@sfgov.org.