The Vera Institute for Justice released a report calculating the true cost of bail, fines and fees levied on criminal defendants in New Orleans. The report revealed that the amount of revenue generated by these fees ultimately costs the city more than it raises, while primarily affecting the people who can least afford it. “Past Due: Examining the Costs and Consequences of Charging for Justice in New Orleans” examined court, police, and jail data for tens of thousands of individual cases as well as the budgets of criminal justice agencies in 2015 to measure the costs of this user-funded system.