Personal Narrative: Betty
Betty Lou owes Alabama thousands of dollars for a crime which she served her sentence for more than 10 years ago. Her license is suspended and she can’t afford to get it re-instated.
Driver's License Suspension
Personal Narrative: Angela
Angela, 40, of Montgomery, is terrified of law enforcement. A single mother of three children, she has three outstanding Failure to Appear warrants for traffic tickets she cannot afford to pay. She says she has never been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor, but she does not have the money to pay her tickets or even afford to keep up with the payment plan she was assigned.
New York City Council Committee on the Justice System hearing: “The Cost of Justice”
FFJC Co-Director Joanna Weiss was invited to testify at a New York City Council hearing, “The Cost of Justice,” about fines and fees in NYC courts.
Smart on Crime Innovations Conference panel, “Eliminating User Fees: Just and Fair Ways to Fund the Justice System”
FFJC Co-Director Joanna Weiss participated in a Smart on Crime Innovations Conference panel about eliminating “user fees” in the justice system.
Mendoza v. Garrett
This case challenges the state of Oregon’s policy of suspending the driver’s licenses of people who cannot afford to pay fines and fees for traffic violations.
Personal Narrative: Gloria
Gloria owed $2,812.38 in court debt and her driver’s license was suspended. She could not afford to keep up with the court’s payment plan because she already struggled to buy necessities for herself and her children. She continued to drive with a suspended driver’s license to take her children to the school, to get to work, to buy groceries and other basic things. There was no reasonable alternative for her.
Personal Narrative: Cindy
Cindy owed $11,282.77 to three courts. It was impossible for her to pay that amount to have her license reinstated. It was difficult for her to find work near her home so she was forced to drive on a suspended license.
Personal Narrative: Teon
Teon, a mother of six, lived in Montgomery, Alabama. In 2018, she was pulled over because one of her tail lights was out. When the officer came back after running her driver’s license through the database, the officer told her that her license had been suspended for about three months by that time because of unpaid tickets.
Davidson County District Attorney declines to prosecute driving on a suspended license where underlying suspension is for unpaid fines and fees
In Tennessee, Davidson County District Attorney Glenn Funk announced that he will stop prosecuting driver's license violations that result from failure to pay fines and fees, such as driving on a suspended license. His office predicts that this policy change could keep 12,000 charges out of Nashville courtrooms over the next year.
Opinion: D.C. should stop suspending driver’s licenses for unpaid fines
Washington, D.C. has the opportunity to lead the nation in fines and fees reform: for Washington Post’s Opinion section, FFJC Co-Director Joanna Weiss and Tzedek DC’s Ariel Levinson-Waldman support legislation …