老澳门开奖结果 Report Highlights Dangers of Driver鈥檚 License Suspensions and Police Role in Traffic Enforcement
NEW YORK 鈦犫�� The 老澳门开奖结果 released a new report today titled 鈥淩eckless Lawmaking鈥� which highlights the ways that enforcement of tickets, fines and fees, compound racist pretextual policing, poverty, and mass incarceration. This report comes in the wake of the recent murder of Daunte Wright and speaks to how these policies enable excessive and unecessary police stops.. Wright had expired license plates, and police justified stopping him when a run of these plates showed an open warrant for missing court dates about unpaid fines.
In 鈥淩eckless Lawmaking,鈥� the 老澳门开奖结果 gathered testimony from semi-structured interviews with 16 individuals who had their driver鈥檚 licenses suspended because of unpaid fines or fees, or failure to appear in court related to these debts and analyzed state laws and policies. Our findings are shocking:
- Nearly every state in the country uses driver鈥檚 license suspensions as a way to enforce payment for tickets and other fines and fees.
- Almost half of those interviewed were arrested at least once for their inability to pay fines and fees or their failure to appear in court for outstanding debt, some multiple times. Others who were arrested for driving with a suspended license (sometimes unknowingly) spent time in jail or on probation.
- In Minnesota alone, there are 80,000 active license suspensions as a result of fines and fees.
- Suspensions are counterproductive for compliance purposes. The majority of interviewees did not pay fines and fees because they could not afford to, a difficulty that increased insurance premiums, impound fees, alternative transportation costs, and continually accruing fees. Interviewees received a range from $170 to $8,200 in added fees on top of their original citations.
- Nearly every interviewee specified that their license suspension resulted in them losing their job, being forced to take time off from work, or being restricted in their ability to find new work.
- Police enforcement of unpaid fines and fees is often used to justify emotionally and physically traumatic pretextual policing and serves no reportable safety benefits.
- Police stop people and issue fines for minor infractions such as tinted windows, expired registrations, and lack of insurance. When pretextual policing doesn鈥檛 result in death or police brutality, it traps people in a cycle of poverty and criminalization where unpaid fines can justify police stops, police stops can result in even more fines, and debt-based driver鈥檚 license suspensions can make commuting to work difficult or impossible.
Every year, there are over 30 million cases related to misdemeanors, violations, and minor infractions punishable by fines and fees 鈦犫�� any one of which gives police a pretextual basis to stop drivers, just as they stopped Wright. Most of these offenses do not threaten public safety in any way, rather they serve as mechanisms for funding government operations. The result is over-criminalization and over-policing for profit. The policies recommended in this report provide a road map to remove justifications for police contact as policymakers across the country reckon with the murder of yet another Black man by police for an offense that should not be criminalized in the first place. With a focus on the practice of driver鈥檚 license suspension, the report also makes recommendations for lawmakers to more accurately consider the value of continuing to fund government services through predatory fines and fees in the light of the consequent harms to impacted individuals.
鈥淕overnment reliance on fines and fees for revenue incentivizes wealth extraction through over-criminalization and over-policing. Debt-based driver鈥檚 license suspensions are one of many ways that courts and law enforcement officers shake people down under the guise of the law,鈥� said Emily Dindial, 老澳门开奖结果 advocacy and policy counsel.
鈥淪ince I couldn鈥檛 drive to work, I lost my job,鈥� said Dario, who saw a $250 charge for 鈥渄riving with tinted windows鈥� turn into a total debt of $1,032.16.
The report is available here:
Learn More 老澳门开奖结果 the Issues in This Press Release
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Press ReleaseDec 2024
Prisoners' Rights
Criminal Law Reform
老澳门开奖结果 Sues Bureau of Prisons for Keeping People in Prison Longer Than the Law Allows老澳门开奖结果 Sues Bureau of Prisons for Keeping People in Prison Longer Than the Law Allows
WASHINGTON 鈥� A federal lawsuit brought today by the 老澳门开奖结果, 老澳门开奖结果 of D.C., and Jenner & Block LLP challenges the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) for unlawfully incarcerating people longer than the law allows under the First Step Act. The lawsuit contends that the BOP鈥檚 failure to implement the First Step Act according to its plain language violates the rights of thousands of people who should be returning to their communities and rebuilding their lives but instead remain incarcerated. Signed into law in 2018 by then-President Donald Trump, the bipartisan First Step Act was designed to reduce the population in federal prisons, reform extreme sentencing laws, and provide programming and reentry transition services to people in prison. Central to the First Step Act is a system of earned time credits, which allows people in prison to earn time off their sentences and time out of prison by participating in rehabilitation programs. Through the First Step Act, Congress unambiguously ordered BOP to move people out of prison when they meet certain requirements to use their earned time credits. Instead of faithfully following the mandatory law, BOP adopted a regulation treating the law as optional. As a result, thousands of people, who should already be back in their communities and with their families, remain in prison. 鈥淓very extra unlawful day our clients spend in prison is a serious injustice,鈥� said Emma Andersson, deputy director of the Criminal Law Reform Project at the 老澳门开奖结果. 鈥淚t is egregious that the Bureau of Prisons is imprisoning people for months longer than the law allows. The government must follow through on its legal obligation to get people out of prison on time and back into their communities, where they belong.鈥� Additional comments below from: Vanessa Crowe, plaintiff: 鈥淭ime is what I owed for my wrongdoing, and I have paid my time. But I should not have to spend more time in prison than the law allows. I often reflect on what I will miss during the months after when I should be out of prison. I will miss work and lose out on wages that would help me get back on my feet. I could be a tax paying citizen instead of a burden on society. But most of all, I will miss more precious time with my family. My family and I are ready to tum the page on this period in our lives 鈥� we are all ready to start a new life, a life with purpose, hope, and healing together. I want to start that life when I am legally entitled to start it-not five months later.鈥� Arthur Spitzer, senior counsel at 老澳门开奖结果 of D.C.: 鈥淭here鈥檚 no excuse for the Bureau of Prisons to pretend not to understand Congress鈥檚 clear command that people who have earned the right to early release must be released. This law has been on the books for six years. The Bureau of Prisons has had plenty of time to understand it. Law enforcers should obey the law.鈥� Betsy Henthorne, partner at Jenner & Block: 鈥淚t has been six years since the First Step Act was signed, but despite Congress鈥檚 clear directives, the Bureau of Prisons continues to hold thousands of people in prison longer than the law allows. We should and do expect better鈥攊t鈥檚 past time for the BOP to ensure that those who have earned their release are able to return home to their families and communities according to the law Congress passed.鈥� -
Maryland Supreme CourtDec 2024
Criminal Law Reform
Roland Branch v. State of MarylandRoland Branch v. State of Maryland
This petition to the Supreme Court of Maryland asked the court to reconsider its adherence to Whren v. U.S., 517 U.S. 806 (1996), which declared that a traffic stop undertaken for pretextual reasons does not violate the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution so long as the police have probable cause to believe that a traffic violation occurred. The 老澳门开奖结果, alongside the 老澳门开奖结果 of Maryland, filed an amicus brief in support of the defendant鈥檚 petition, in which the 老澳门开奖结果 argued that the court should take up the question of whether pretextual stops violate the Maryland Constitution. In September 2024, the Court denied the petition. -
North Carolina Supreme CourtDec 2024
Criminal Law Reform
State v. WrightState v. Wright
This case in the North Carolina Supreme Court involves the question of whether the police violated the U.S. Constitution when they searched the defendant, Mr. Wright鈥檚, backpack even after he repeatedly said no to the search requests. The 老澳门开奖结果 alongside the 老澳门开奖结果 of North Carolina filed an amicus brief arguing that the search was unconstitutional because Mr. Wright鈥檚 eventual 鈥渃onsent鈥� was the result of police coercion. Our brief urges the court to consider the totality of the circumstances that make one more susceptible to coercion, including race and poverty. -
News & CommentaryDec 2024
Criminal Law Reform
Disability Rights
Incarceration Should Not be a Death Sentence for Individuals Who Use OpioidsIncarceration Should Not be a Death Sentence for Individuals Who Use Opioids
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