Alabama Archives - Fines and Fees Justice Center

The Fee Trap: Why Alabama’s Local Governments Can’t Shake Fines and Charges

Local governments in Alabama, constrained by the state’s constitutional limits on raising taxes, impose fees and general charges to fund services. As a result, lower-income people pay a more significant …

Taken for a Ride: How Excessive Ticketing Propels Alabama Drivers Into A Cycle of Debt, Incarceration, and Poverty

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Selective Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP) provides additional funding to law enforcement agencies implementing programs to deter dangerous driving. As a condition, agencies must report the …

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 …