Judge’s tactics prompts criminals to pay their own way

<p>A judge in Johnson County has studied state laws and interviewed judges across the state in an effort to save taxpayers money.</p><p>Lance Hamner, judge of Johnson County Superior Court 3, has used state laws to revamp how his court collects fees from suspects when they are convicted of crimes. The initiatives he has taken have collected or saved taxpayers about $124,000 annually, Hamner said.</p><p>When Hamner became the judge of the court about 10 years ago, he studied state statutes and interviewed other judges to see how they collected more fees and began implementing the policies that has allowed his court to collect the money. He began rolling out some of the initiatives nearly immediately after taking office. Some are less than a year old.</p><p>“I just took an eclectic approach, I took the best practices of some of the courts and instituted them here,&quot; Hamner said.</p><p>The tactic that has paid off the most is an aggressive approach to collecting courts costs and community corrections costs. </p><p>Hamner began calling offenders who were late in paying those costs to compliance hearings. People would usually pay what they owe rather than face a court date regarding the missed payments, Hamner said.</p><p>“When they get summoned back in for a compliance hearing, they pay the costs,&quot; he said.</p><p>People who have committed a crime and are sentenced to community corrections have to pay their own fees for their monitoring. Community corrections in Johnson County collected just over a million dollars last year. Superior Court 3 ‘s compliance hearings are credited with increasing those collections by $92,000 last year, Hamner said.</p><p>Hamner and his staff also started compliance hearings to collect the court fees for people who were not paying their fees in criminal court. About half of the people tried in Superior Court 3 were not paying their court costs. County officials began trying to collect some of the costs through collection agencies, but the money was not coming in that way, he said.</p><p>Compliance hearings are working, though. Last year, the court collected $20,000 from people who had not paid their court costs and likely would not have paid unless ordered to do so through a compliance hearing, Hamner said.</p><p>“That’s $20,000 that otherwise would be paid by taxes,&quot; he said.</p><p>Hamner has also carefully considered a person’s financial status when they come to court and ask for a public defender. The court developed a formula taking into consideration income and debts when deciding whether someone is indigent enough for a public defender, Hamner said.</p><p>Having defendants who claim they were complacently indigent pay for some of their court costs brought almost $12,000 into the county’s coffers last year, Hamner said. </p><p>&quot;It was money they were well able to pay and should pay,&quot; he said.</p><p>Another $200 was collected in a new $25 late fee started last year that charges a late fee on all overdue courts costs. Superior 3 also had surplus in its interpreter fee account, allowing the court to pay for interpreters across all courts, which was about $30,000, Hamner said.</p>[sc:pullout-title pullout-title="By the numbers" ][sc:pullout-text-begin]<p>Here is a look at some of the fees and initiatives Superior Court 3 has taken to collect money and save the county money.</p><p><strong>$20,000:</strong> Money collected from people who were not paying their court fees. The money was collected by summoning non-payers to compliance hearings.</p><p><strong>$92,000</strong>: Money Superior Court 3 is credited for collecting for community corrections from people who were not paying those fees. The money was collected through compliance hearings.</p><p><strong>$200:</strong> Collected by charging a $25 late fee on all late court costs.</p><p><strong> $11,983:</strong> Legal fees collected from people who asked for public defenders, but were found to be able to pay some of their legal costs.</p><p><strong>$124,000:</strong> The total collected in 2018 from all of Superior 3 court initiatives.</p><p><strong>$30,000:</strong> The amount of surplus the court used to pay all interpreter fees for all courts in the county.</p>[sc:pullout-text-end]