Nevada Assembly Bill 110: Traffic ticket notification and bench warrants.
Nevada AB 110 makes changes to the notification process for traffic tickets and related court dates.
Traffic Fines and Fees
Stopping the Debt Spiral
This report shares the results of a survey of 304 low-income Illinois residents who were asked about their experience with debt, including criminal justice debt. Respondents disclosed the types of debt they had, the number of debts they owed, and the emotional toll debt takes on their families.
Speed Trap or Poverty Trap? Fines, Fees, and Financial Wellbeing
Steven Mello’s research paper investigates the effects of traffic fines on financial wellbeing by studying the correlation between Florida traffic citation records (between 2011 and 2015) and credit reports and payroll data of ticketed drivers.
Changing Course: Driver’s License Suspension in Florida
This policy brief explains some of the justifications for Florida’s practice of suspending driver’s licenses and explores the consequences of that practice—driver’s license suspension disproportionately burdens low-income individuals and has …
Chicago Ordinance 2018-8115: Amendment of Municipal Code Titles 1 and 9 concerning general provisions of motor vehicle recovery of debt and vehicle impoundment.
In Chicago, Alderman Gilbert Villegas has introduced legislation that would reduce the burden of traffic fines and fees for low-income Chicago residents by providing alternatives to fines and fees and improving access to payment plans.
Next Stop: Felony Parking
This SoundCloud recording made available by the Chicago Jobs Council takes an in-depth look into how parking tickets from 1999 cost 37-year old LaSheria Murphy her driver’s license, peace of mind, livelihood, and dignity.
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.
To Serve and Collect: The Fiscal and Racial Determinants of Law Enforcement
The authors’ completed model predicts that when a local government is experiencing a fiscal crisis, local police departments will increase arrests for “offenses that carry fines or the opportunity to forfeit assets.”
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.
Personal Narrative: Sharon McGee
Sharon McGee was 16 years old when she was stopped by a police officer and ticketed for not completely stopping at a stop sign. At the time, McGee was working a minimum wage job and living on her own.