Robinson v. Purkey [Robinson v. Long]
County Clerks in Tennessee automatically suspend the driver’s license of persons who fail to pay their traffic debt within a 30-90 day window.
News
Municipal Fines and Fees: A 50-State Survey of State Laws
This report, including an interactive map, provides a 50-state analysis of state laws that regulate municipal imposition and collection of fines and fees. The analysis is based on 52 factors, organized into 7 broad categories, that measure the extent to which state laws “prohibit, sustain, encourage or neutralize” municipal reliance on fines and fees.
Driving Toward Justice: How ending driver’s license suspensions for unpaid traffic tickets helps communities without impacting court collections
This brief describes reforms that were implemented after the San Francisco Superior Court’s decision to eliminate debt-based driver’s license suspensions.
The Explosion of Unpaid Criminal Fines and Fees in North Carolina
The amount of debt owed to North Carolina’s criminal courts has increased at a staggering rate. This report gives a scope of how much debt is uncollectible, identifies the people in the state most harmed by the current system, and pinpoints the case types that yield the lion’s share of this debt.
Fines and Monetary Sanctions
Alexes Harris, the author of this research papers, discusses various criminal legal system fines and fees and argues that imposing these costs can worsen social inequality.
West Virginia House Bill 4958: Eliminating driver’s license suspension for failure to pay court fines and costs
This bill ends driver's license suspensions for unpaid fines and fees in West Virginia, and requires courts to develop uniform payment plans.
Virginia SB1: Driver’s license; suspension for nonpayment of fines or costs.
This bill ends driver’s license suspensions for unpaid fines and fees in Virginia and requires the Virginia DMV to reinstate suspended licenses.
Personal Narrative: Eric
Eric Snyder has had his license suspended since 2011 because of unpaid fines and fees. Without a license, he can't get a job to pay off this debt nor can he get on a payment plan.
Kansas v. Glover
Kansas v. Glover Issue: Does a police officer violate the Fourth Amendment by conducting an investigatory traffic stop based on an assumption that the driver of a vehicle is the registered …
Ethical Obligations of Judges in Collecting Legal Financial Obligations and Other Debts
This opinion from the American Bar Association addresses the obligations judges have to assess ability to pay when collecting fines and fees.