Access to counsel should not be hidden behind a paywall.
One of our foundational constitutional rights is that a person facing charges that could result in jail time or other harsh consequences has a right to an attorney, even if they cannot afford one.
But that promise of a right to counsel isn’t always kept in New Jersey’s municipal courts. New Jersey currently allows municipalities to charge community members up to $200 to apply for a public defender. These fees present barriers to the constitutional right to counsel and provide little returns to municipalities.
For example, our research found that only 0.002% of East Orange’s 2024 municipal budget was funded by municipal public defender application fees. In Ridgewood, we found that the revenue generated by these fees was 0.003% of the 2024 municipal budget.
Although these fees have little impact on municipal budgets, they are extremely burdensome to defendants. Many defendants in New Jersey are indigent – meaning they do not have the resources to help pay for an attorney – yet are still subjected to pay municipal public defender application fees. A $200 fee is an extreme burden and can present a choice between food, housing, or legal defense.
Affordability should not hinder someone’s access to legal representation. Municipal public defender application fees restrict access to counsel while criminalizing poverty and targeting low-income communities and communities of color.
New Jersey Policy Perspective (NJPP) recently released a report detailing the harms of municipal public defender application fees and why they should be eliminated. As explained in the report, the demands of these application fees on defendants deepen cycles of poverty, entrench people in debt, and cause undue emotional strain. NJPP recommends ending these unjust fees to ensure the constitutional right to legal counsel is accessible to all.
The New Jersey Legislature is currently considering A5639/S4396, which will eliminate municipal public defender application fees. This proposed bill will help create reforms to the criminal legal system that will ensure public defense is accessible and equitable, as the Sixth Amendment promises. The bill will also work to lessen the financial and emotional strain put on community members who suffer from these kinds of fees.
Eliminating municipal public defender application fees is not a new idea. In fact, Jersey City eliminated its public defender application fee in 2019. And in 2023, New Jersey eliminated state-level public defender fees and retroactively forgave all outstanding public defender fees.
Eliminating state-level public defender fees was a major milestone for social justice. But as long as municipal public defender fees remain, there is more work to be done to fully eliminate public defender fees in New Jersey and ensure everyone has access to representation.
The ACLU-NJ opposes policies and systems that weaponize the criminal legal system and criminalize poverty, as municipal public defender application fees do. We’re calling on lawmakers to support A5639/S4396 to eliminate municipal public defender application fees and ensure the constitutional right to counsel is accessible to all. Take action here to ensure that people are not priced out of their right to public defense.