![Illustration of a prisoner on one side of a scale and a ball and chain on the other side of the scale](https://www.law.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/spotlight-Criminal_Justice_illustration.jpg)
After asking the U.S. Attorney General to act, our Policy Advocacy Clinic and other advocacy groups celebrated a Department of Justice letter urging states and local courts to reduce criminal legal system fines and fees. Jeffrey Selbin, the clinic’s co-director, says lawmakers, agencies, and courts are “on notice that it’s time to stop trying to fund the justice system on the backs of those least able to afford it.”