News Story (California)
Lee Romney
Los Angeles Times (LA Times)
April 8, 2015
Link to story
261258383-Not-Just-a-Ferguson-Problem-How-Traffic-Courts-Drive-Inequality-in-California2
Tags: Driver's license suspension
Organizations mentioned/involved: Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area (LCCR), Western Center on Law & Poverty (WCLP) (CA), A New Way of Life (Los Angeles)
DETAILS
Traffic-court fines layered with escalating fees and penalties have led to driver’s license suspensions for 4.2 million Californians — or one in six drivers — pushing many low-income people deeper into poverty, a report released Wednesday by a coalition of legal aid groups found.
The report calls for, among other things, an end to license suspensions for unpaid tickets and a reduction in fees and penalties that raise a $100 fine to $490 — or $815 if the initial deadline to pay is missed.
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But recent figures released by the Legislative Analyst’s Office show that uncollected court-ordered debt has grown to more than $10 billion.
“It doesn’t work,” said Meredith Desautels, an attorney with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, the lead author of the report.