By Gwyneth K. Shaw
In 2016, Berkeley Law’s Policy Advocacy Clinic (PAC) released its first report on the harms of fines and fees in the juvenile court system — a narrow snapshot looking just at Alameda County.
A decade later, the sweep of the clinic’s influence, in partnership with a spectrum of partner groups, local clients, and legislators, is national. Eighteen states no longer charge any youth fees or fines, and reforms are on the table in several others.
PAC’s research showed that charging youth for electronic monitoring, drug testing, and even their own detention exacerbated racial disparities while yielding very little in net revenue — and, in many places, counties and states spent more trying to collect the fees than they raised.
According to data the clinic gathered from reform states, juvenile courts no longer charge youth and families more than $61 million in fees each year, and they have discharged a staggering $783 million in debt.
What’s more, a number of PAC students have continued to work on the issue since graduation — either with nonprofit advocacy groups or back in the clinic itself.
Building the ‘PACulty’
“In large part because of the success of the work in California and later in other states on these juvenile fee repeal campaigns, national funders took note and reached out to us and we’ve had very generous support that’s allowed us to now have a staff of 11 people and dozens of students every year,” Clinical Professor and clinic Co-Director Jeffrey Selbin says. “The students who have come back as staff have a deep commitment to the work.”
PAC accepts both law students and graduate students in UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy, and many current staff began as Masters of Public Policy students. Deputy Director Devan Shea, Clinical Supervisor Maiya Zwerling, Research Director Georgia Valentine, and Interim Co-Deputy Director Delaney Green all have M.P.P.s from Goldman. Co-Director Stephanie Campos-Bui ’14 and Clinical Supervisor Gus Patel-Tupper ’20 are also alumni, part of what Selbin jokingly refers to as the “PACulty.”
“It’s enormously gratifying being surrounded by people who are so dedicated to the work, to making the world better, and to helping support the next generation of students to have the kind of career-changing experiences they did,” Selbin says.
Campos-Bui, who was a student before the fines and fees campaign began, says it’s incredibly rewarding to see former PAC students become leading experts in their fields — both in California and across the country.
“I remember watching them develop their skills, judgment, and confidence as students, and I now have the privilege of learning from their expertise and working alongside them as trusted partners,” she says. “There is also something special about sharing so much institutional memory. We can draw on years of experience with the clinic’s work, and have internal competitions over who has encountered the worst data set from a system actor, which makes the work both more effective and more fun.”
Other alums, including Ahmed Lavalais ’17, worked with PAC early in their legal careers. Now a professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Law, Lavalais was the clinic’s second teaching fellow — Campos-Bui was the first, Shea the third — and led its work in Louisiana and Texas, which became the first southern states to end juvenile fees.
Clinical Supervisor Cameron Clark is PAC’s current coordinator for the Debt Free Justice campaign, a partnership with the Juvenile Law Center and the National Center for Youth Law.
Driven by data
A critical element of PAC’s success has been its ability to quantify the harms of these fees and fines, and to measure the benefits that accrue once they are removed.
The clinic’s early findings turned out to be national trends, and as more states eliminate fines and fees, the results further bolster the case for repeal. When Shea was working with partner groups to get rid of fines and fees in Arizona, for example, she successfully pushed for a reporting requirement in the legislation — creating a new data stream for tracking the impact.
“Thanks to Devan’s foresight, the state’s 2025 report provides valuable data to assess impact and support implementation — an important lesson we’ve learned over time,” Selbin says.
Those numbers show that over 110,000 youth, parents, and guardians in Arizona have been relieved of nearly $40 million in previously assessed fees.
Want to support PAC’s continuing work on fines and fees? Donate to the clinic.
Shea helped organize and facilitate the first national convening on juvenile fees and fines in 2018 as a clinic student. PAC was a draw for her to come to Berkeley for graduate school, she says, and the ability to engage with advocates and lawmakers as well as clinic students has kept her work fulfilling.
“It was great to see the beginnings of this bigger trend,” Shea says. “And now 10 years later, here we are.”
Campos-Bui says one of the most meaningful parts of the campaign is meeting young people and their families, knowing they’ll never face a juvenile detention fee or get a bill for a public defender. She’s amazed by the scale of the hundreds of millions of dollars the campaign has saved — and sobered by the knowledge that for decades, that money was taken from families who could least afford to lose it.
“It has been incredibly meaningful to see years of organizing, advocacy, and persistence translate into tangible relief for so many people and families,” she says. “Nearly 30 clinic students contributed to the California efforts alone, and many more helped scale the work nationally and influence policies and practices in other states. Those students have gone on to become public defenders, legal aid attorneys, lobbyists, policy directors, foundation program officers, and leaders in other roles — and we continue to work with many of them across the country today.
“Seeing that growing network carry the work forward has been one of the most rewarding parts of the campaign.”
This article is also shared on the USA250xBerkeley Archive, which highlights UC Berkeley’s contributions to America in innovation, opportunity, and civic engagement.
