The Demand for Money Behind Many Traffic Stops
Cities and towns, often those with weakened tax bases or that are barred from easily raising revenue, use fines and fees to raise revenue. Over 730 municipalities rely on fines …
Policing-for-profit
2021 Driving Injustice: Consequences and Disparities in North Carolina Legal and Traffic Debt
An increase in fines, fees, and license suspension for traffic tickets, infractions, and misdemeanors has created a vicious cycle of court debt. People who do not pay their debt within …
The predatory dimensions of criminal justice
Throughout American history, criminal justice has played a critical role in resource extraction from slave patrols to convict leasing, chain gangs and exploitative debt, credit and labor arrangements. Today, as …
Dismantling Policing for Profit: How to Build on Missouri’s Post-Ferguson Court Reforms
After the killing of Michael Brown by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, the Department of Justice (DOJ) found Ferguson’s focus on generating revenue over public safety, along with racial …
Speeding in Texas? New analysis reveals where police pulled over the most people
Small towns in Texas are using aggressive ticketing strategies on speeding drivers to raise revenue for their budgets. The Houston Chronicle analyzed traffic stop and ticketing numbers reported to the …
Driven by Debt: The Failure of the OmniBase Program
The OmniBase Failure to Appear Program places holds on license renewals (making it an offense to drive) when the license holder fails to pay fines and fees or fails to …
D.C. parking, traffic tickets snowball into financial hardships
The Washington Post analyzed patterns of moving violations from red light cameras, parking tickets and police stops between 2016 and 2021 in the District of Columbia. The article highlights findings …
Cycles of Debt: Research Indicates That Driver’s License Suspensions Over Unpaid Fines Targets Black Drivers
In the first-ever study of failure-to-pay suspensions in the United States, researchers Sian Mughan and Joanna Carroll examined a sample of over 2000 drivers who received traffic tickets in Marion …
Traffic Without the Police
Traffic enforcement and policing have become intertwined as a gateway for funneling overpoliced and marginalized communities into the criminal justice system. This article explores a new legal framework that decouples …
Reckless Lawmaking: How Debt-Based Driver’s License Suspension Laws Impose Harm and Waste Resources
This report examines the impacts of suspending driver’s licenses as a consequence of unpaid fines and fees and failure to appear in court. 16 individuals who had their license suspended …