BUSTED? IT'S GOING TO HIT YOUR WALLET

Long after the gavel has fallen, the handcuffs have been clamped and
the jail door slammed shut, people who've committed crimes in Bucks
County are still hearing from the courts.

The message: Pay up!

Thanks to an upgraded computer system, former defendants who have
fallen behind in paying -- or have flat out ignored -- their court
costs bills are now finding lawsuits on their doorsteps. In the past
two months hundreds have been filed in cases where the person owes
more than $1,000.

Mary Smithson, the county Clerk of Courts, also has other ways of
making scofflaws pay. Her office employs an outside collection agency
to hound people who shrug off their debts.

"Our job is to make victims whole," Smithson said. "And this is still
a costly operation to run. That's why the Legislature put these costs
in effect. It's a court order. People cannot ignore it."

Court costs are the fees and fines tacked on to each crime by
lawmakers, along with any restitution a defendant is ordered to pay.

They range from $5 for the Firearm Education and Training Fund, to
$25 for the Victim Witness Services Act, to $250 for the state DNA Fund.

There's also postage ($4.65,) the Crime Victims Compensation Act
($35), Emergency Medical Services Act fee ($10), the Law Library fee
($10) and the Substance Abuse Education Act ($50).

In drug cases, where recently-enacted laws have placed fines of
$15,000 or more in sentences, depending on the amount of drugs
delivered, a defendant could be looking at a $20,000 bill when he
leaves the courthouse.

Drunken drivers are hit especially hard, due to recent changes in the
law that levy higher fines for higher blood alcohol levels. DUI fines
in an average case can now run as much as $1,000, or the cost of 174
strawberry margaritas.

Even those serving long jail terms aren't spared the bill collector's
grasp. Smithson's office is able to put liens on a prisoner's jail
account, so that the pennies an hour an inmate might make sweeping
floors get snapped up by court cost instead of being spent on
Twinkies from the prison commissary. Before a lawsuit is filed or
collection agency employed, Smithson's office mails notices to
defendants reminding them to pay. When those are repeatedly ignored,
Smithson gets tough. She said it's not uncommon for people to finally
pay up when they realize that their credit rating is in jeopardy.
"When they go to buy that big screen TV and can't, that's when we
hear from them," she said. As the number changes day to day, the
county does not have an accurate record of how much is owed in court
costs. But with its aggressive collection techniques, Bucks
consistently ranks in the top five of Pennsylvania counties with low
owe totals.

Across the country, governments are cracking down on court cost
scofflaws with varying results. In Washington State, for example, a
state appeals court last month overturned a court decision which
prohibited people from voting until they had paid off all their court costs.

The challenge to the so-called "felon poll tax," was brought by the
American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of a woman who owed $2,000
following a 2002 conviction for growing marijuana and two other
disenfranchised residents.

The state court said the act unfairly penalized often-impoverished
former prisoners by stripping them of their voting rights.

In Pennsylvania, voting rights are immediately restored once a person
is released from confinement, regardless of how much they owe in court costs.

The lawsuits, which are automatically generated by the new computer
system, are expected to continue showing up in Bucks County court.
Smithson said it's a good sign, especially for victims who are
patiently waiting to get their hard-earned money back.

"What's important is that the victims get paid in full," she said.
"It is expensive to commit crime. People need to know that. You
really can't afford it."