Cite as: 519 U. S. 102 (1996)
Opinion of the Court
In States providing criminal appeals, as we earlier recounted, an indigent's access to appeal, through a transcript of relevant trial proceedings, is secure under our precedent. See supra, at 110-112. That equal access right holds for petty offenses as well as for felonies. But counsel at state expense, we have held, is a constitutional requirement, even in the first instance, only when the defendant faces time in confinement. See supra, at 113. When deprivation of parental status is at stake, however, counsel is sometimes part of the process that is due. See Lassiter, 452 U. S., at 31-32. It would be anomalous to recognize a right to a transcript needed to appeal a misdemeanor conviction—though trial counsel may be flatly denied—but hold, at the same time, that a transcript need not be prepared for M. L. B.—though were her defense sufficiently complex, state-paid counsel, as Lassiter instructs, would be designated for her.
In aligning M. L. B.'s case and Mayer—parental status termination decrees and criminal convictions that carry no jail time—for appeal access purposes, we do not question the general rule, stated in Ortwein, that fee requirements ordinarily are examined only for rationality. See supra, at 115-116. The State's need for revenue to offset costs, in the mine run of cases, satisfies the rationality requirement, see Ortwein, 410 U. S., at 660; States are not forced by the Constitution to adjust all tolls to account for "disparity in mate-10(b)(4) (1996); Wash. Rule App. Proc. 15.4(d) (1996); W. Va. Code § 59-2- 1(a) (Supp. 1996); State ex rel. Girouard v. Circuit Court for Jackson County, 155 Wis. 2d 148, 454 N. W. 2d 792 (1990).
Several States deal discretely with in forma pauperis appeals, including transcripts, in parental status termination cases. See, e. g., In re Appeal in Pima County v. Howard, 112 Ariz. 170, 540 P. 2d 642 (1975); Cal. Family Code Ann. § 7895(c) (West 1994); Colo. Rev. Stat. § 19-3-609 (Supp. 1996); Nix v. Department of Human Resources, 236 Ga. 794, 225 S. E. 2d 306 (1976); In re Chambers, 261 Iowa 31, 152 N. W. 2d 818 (1967); Kan. Stat. Ann. § 38-1593 (1986); In re Karren, 280 Minn. 377, 159 N. W. 2d 402 (1968); Mich. Rule P. Ct. 5.974(H)(3) (1996); In re Dotson, 72 N. J. 112, 367 A. 2d 1160 (1976); State ex rel. Heller v. Miller, 61 Ohio St. 2d 6, 399 N. E. 2d 66 (1980); Ex parte Cauthen, 291 S. C. 465, 354 S. E. 2d 381 (1987).
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