Alabama Takes From the Poor and Gives to the Rich
To raise taxes in Alabama, cities and counties must go through the state legislature to initiate a constitutional amendment allowing them to pass a law to raise property or income …
U.S. Department of Justice Statement of Interest: Coleman v. Brookside, AL
On July 26, 2022, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a Statement of Interest (SOI) in the case of Coleman v. Brookside, 2:22-cv-00423-RDP, pending in the U.S. District …
Town Hall: Beyond Policing for Profit
This special report follows up on the January 2022 AL.com investigative report shedding light on Brookside’s police department’s aggressive ticketing and towing practices to raise revenue for the department and …
AL HB 200
The Alabama legislature recently introduced a bill that would prohibit driver’s license suspensions for failure to pay a fine, fee, court cost or restitution imposed as a result of a …
Measuring the Impact of Suspended Licenses on State Tax Revenue
Alabama law permits the suspension of driver’s licenses for failure to pay fines, fees, or court costs. Per suspended license, it is estimated that the state expects to collect a …
Life On An Ankle Monitor In Alabama: $10 A Day and ‘Inevitable Imperfections
Many state and local governments have shifted the cost of incarceration from the government onto the person being monitored. In 2020, Brittany Smith pleaded guilty for the murder of a …
Police In This Tiny Alabama Town Suck Drivers Into Legal ‘Black Hole’
Brookside, a small town in Alabama with 1,253 residents and six miles of roads to patrol, has more than doubled its town’s income as fines and forfeitures rose 640 percent …
Carter v. Montgomery
Hundreds of individuals were assessed fines by the Montgomery Municipal Court for misdemeanors, primarily traffic tickets like driving with a suspended license and other low-level crimes of poverty. When they …
Examining the Intersection Between Criminal Justice and Financial Services in the Deep South
The text discusses the financial burdens and barriers to financial stability faced by people after they are released from prison.
Flattened: How the COVID-19 Pandemic Knocked Financially Insecure Alabamians on their Backs and Widened the Racial Prosperity Gap
Between May and September 2020, Alabamaba Applesseed and partners surveyed 389 financially insecure Alabamaians. The authors documented how daily lives and financial circumstances changed for respondents since March 13, 2020, …