The early scholarship on monetary sanctions has reached a general consensus on several fronts. Monetary sanctions have been shown to exact sizable personal and social costs for people, often exceeding the bounds of proportionality in punishment. These sanctions are ubiquitous in American criminal justice. They occur at every jurisdictional level and can be originated by nearly any criminal justice entity therein, rendering the types and nature of monetary sanctions complex and idiosyncratic while simultaneously exacerbating and reifying disparities found throughout the criminal justice system.

As these findings become increasingly known to policymakers, and as reform efforts are emerging around the country, the literature on monetary sanctions is at an important inflection point. We have a basic understanding of the status quo in descriptive terms, but knowledge about mechanisms and broader repercussions is lacking. In order to further scholarly knowledge on this topic, new inquiries are needed to address more sophisticated sets of questions. This special issue is devoted to advancing new theoretical and methodological inquiries into monetary sanctions. Papers may focus on any aspect of monetary sanctions.