Seattle Municipal Court Cancelling Probation Fees

Posted Thursday, September 24, 2020 by Andrew Charles Huff

Seattle Municipal Court will no longer charge fees for probation and other supervision services. The court’s new policy just took effect and is based primarily on the Covid crisis and those who simply cannot pay these fees.

The court’s judges voted unanimously to eliminate these fees people are sometimes ordered to pay while on probation.

The fees were discretionary and up to judges whether to impose them. Some fees for criminal cases are mandated by the state and will continue being charged.The fees contributed about $268,000 per year to the city’s general fund, with the probation fees accounting for almost 80% of that total.

Separately, Seattle Municipal Court recently a new pretrial diversion program that connects people charged with certain low-level crimes to social services, drug treatment and housing assistance.