This study aims to understand how financial pressures related to criminal justice involvement contribute to issues like food and housing insecurity, repeat offenses, and overdose deaths. The study addresses the effects of a new law in New Mexico (House Bill 139) that eliminated court fees starting in 2024. By treating this policy change as a natural experiment, researchers compare outcomes like drug court participation and overdose rates in New Mexico to control states, which mimic what might happen without the policy change. They also track outcomes among individuals in the legal system before and after the policy change to compare outcomes among those with vs. without policy exposure (court fee relief) over time.