Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To examine disparities in court fines between American Indian and White convicted persons before and after a South Dakota reform, which trained court personnel to only assess fines that could be reasonably paid by defendants. METHODS: A natural experiment design using criminal records for the universe of convictions for misdemeanor arrests between July 2011-June 2015 (N = 34,700) was employed to estimate the association between the reform and the likelihood of a fine using logistic regression. RESULTS: The reform was associated with reductions in fine assessments in urban (OR, 0.63; CI, 0.39-1.04); rural, no Indian Country (OR, 0.24; CI, 0.18-0.33); and rural, part-Indian Country counties (OR, 0.24; CI, 0.18-0.32). Both American Indian and White persons experienced these reductions, but the reductions were smaller for American Indians in urban counties. CONCLUSIONS: A defendant's race and features of local court structures may shape judicial behavior in response to monetary sanctioning reforms. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11292-023-09597-3.