On June 2, 2025, NCAJ and the Stein Center for Law and Ethics convened at Fordham Law a group of 25 experts for Innovation Day on Ability to Pay -- a day of dialogue on how to use research to better understand and improve the policies that guide judges in making determinations on people's ability to pay government-imposed fines and fees. NCAJ had earlier collected and described examples of such policies in the Ability to Pay Report and the Fines and Fees Justice Index.

The participants in this Innovation Day -- one of a series of events supported by Arnold Ventures highlighting opportunities for causal research on the legal system -- included: scholars (economists, sociologists, public health researchers, legal academics); policy experts (from NCAJ, the Fines and Fees Justice Center, the National Center for State Courts, and other organizations); and practitioners (judges, legal aid advocates, and other state court stakeholders). 

At the event, participants considered possibilities for research in Delaware, Illinois, Montana, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, and Texas on policies that included: a) designated categorical presumptions of inability to pay, b) designated financial levels, below which a judge is required to find a person unable to afford to pay; c) mandatory requirements for judges to conduct hearings on the record and make formal findings of fact; and d) mandatory requirements for judges to make determinations on the issue of ability to pay. 

The discussion explored the different kinds of research questions that can be effectively pursued when researchers draw on their backgrounds in different social science disciplines, and when research projects engage policy experts and practitioners who possess particular knowledge of how laws and practices operate in the real world. The event was also successful in introducing scholars, policy experts and practitioners to one another, several of whom are continuing to explore ideas for project proposals involving new research collaborations.