Traffic Fines and Fees Archives - Page 17 of 20 - Fines and Fees Justice Center

Driving Into Debt: The Need For Traffic Ticket Fee Reform

This report explains how the California courts’ interest in revenue collection causes a burden of debt for citizens and recommends alternatives to traditional collection methods that raise more revenue while causing less harm.

Paying More for Being Poor: Bias and Disparity in California’s Traffic Court System

This report is based on the authors’ research on traffic courts and driver’s license suspension practices in the San Francisco Bay Area. It details how much revenue courts collect from fines and fees, the harmful impacts those fees have on low-income Californians, and also advances several policy reform recommendations.

San Francisco Fines & Fees Task Force: Initial Findings and Recommendations

In late 2016, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors directed the Office of the Treasurer and Tax Collector to create a Fines and Fees Task Force (staffed by the Treasurer’s Financial Justice Project) to study the impact of fines and fees on San Franciscans & propose relevant reforms. About six months later, the Task Force published this initial report in order to provide an overview of fines and fees in San Francisco as well as an array of reform recommendations.

The Price of Being Poor: How Fines and Fees Entrench Inequality and What Has to Change [Panel]

As part of the Aspen Institute’s 2017 Summit on Inequality and Opportunity, this panel discussion was convened to discuss problems posed by fines and fees practices. During the panel, Rev. …

$23,000 in traffic fines reduced to $9 for man as pilot program takes on New Orleans’ court system

In March 2017, New Orleans nonprofit Stand with Dignity sponsored a Warrant Clinic in New Orleans. Over 1,200 people (who owed an average of $8,000 in fines and fees) participated in the clinic.

D.C. Law 22-175: Traffic and Parking Ticket Penalty Amendment Act of 2018.

The Council of the District of Columbia unanimously amended the District of Columbia Traffic Adjudication Act of 1978 to eliminate the suspension of drivers’ licenses for unpaid traffic debt or failure to appear at hearings.

Personal Narrative: Izell Mayes

Mayes’ traffic debt started back in 1989 when he got his first traffic ticket and couldn’t afford to pay it. He missed one court date after another and also racked up more traffic citations until his total traffic ticket debt was nearly $23,000.

California SB 185: Crimes: infractions.

This bill would have ended the practice of suspending licenses as a sanction for nonpayment of fines and fees. It also mandated that judges reduce fines and fees and provided guidelines for determining a defendant’s ability to pay fines and fees.

Rebellious Social Movement Lawyering Against Traffic Court Debt

Rebellious lawyering empowers those affected by the issue to come up with solutions to their own problems. It should be a collective effort between the lawyers and legal services clients and community members from grassroots organizing groups.

Personal Narrative: Daniel McDonald

McDonald had received several traffic tickets, including many for driving without a license, which he could not obtain due to financial holds. When McDonald went to court to take care of his tickets, the judge refused to give him community service even though McDonald lived below the poverty line. Instead, the judge put him on a payment plan for $50 a month.