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03-02-2022, 10:06 AM
Opinion by Leah Nelson and Priya Sarathy Jones
Updated 2103 GMT (0503 HKT) February 1, 2022
(CNN)Since news broke in late January of how police in Brookside, Alabama, allegedly were preying on motorists to pay their own salaries, all eyes have been on the hamlet that appears to have turned its police force into a money-making enterprise (for this news, please refer to this thread: https://sgtalk.net/Thread-For-profit-pol...-fund-town ).
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Taxation-by-citation is entrenched in far too many jurisdictions in America. Just like we saw in Ferguson, Missouri, where court fines and fees -- largely traffic-related -- were a major source of city revenue in recent years, local governments have been using fines and fees unchecked for decades.
Throughout the US, criminal justice policy and tax policy are two sides of the same coin. Relying on crime to keep revenue flowing is an implicit bet against public safety -- if crime goes down, so does revenue.
......
Since the abusive policing and collections practices of Ferguson, Missouri, came to light several years ago, it's become clear this is not just a Ferguson problem. In California, traffic tickets that used to cost $100 are now closer to US$500. Doraville, Georgia, a town with a population of just over 10,000 people, took in an average of US$3 million a year from fines and fees. And Washington, DC issued US$1 billion in traffic and parking tickets over three years.
When someone can't afford to immediately pay, draconian collections and enforcement practices trap families in a cycle of punishment that's nearly impossible to escape. Turning law enforcement into armed debt collectors further erodes the trust between community and law enforcement.
......
It is illegal for courts to sentence people to jail in the US when a person is unable to pay their debt — but in practice, people are jailed every day over unpaid fines and fees.
......
among the Alabamians surveyed who owed criminal justice debt, nearly 50% were jailed because they couldn't keep up with their payments. To avoid jail, many survey respondents had to make desperate choices: 83% chose not to pay for basic needs like rent, utilities or medicine; 44% took out a high-cost payday loans; and 38% turned to crime to get the money they needed to stay out of jail — most often selling drugs, stealing or sex work.
Putting a stop to policing for profit requires policy change
......
To prevent predatory policing, hold police and courts accountable for their behavior and mitigate the harm caused by excessive fines and taxes, we must untangle criminal justice policy from fiscal policy.
We can start by eliminating criminal justice fees, which are a wildly regressive tax. While fines are meant to hold people accountable, the main purpose of fees and court costs is to generate revenue to support basic government operations.
States should also require that all fines and fees be remitted to a state's general fund and re-allocated to cities based on need, not based on the amount of ticket revenue they raise. This removes the direct incentive to make unnecessary or questionable stops as a fallback measure to raise revenue, while leaving local governments free to prioritize public safety needs.
Much better to read full opinion at: https://edition.cnn.com/2022/02/01/opini...index.html
Updated 2103 GMT (0503 HKT) February 1, 2022
(CNN)Since news broke in late January of how police in Brookside, Alabama, allegedly were preying on motorists to pay their own salaries, all eyes have been on the hamlet that appears to have turned its police force into a money-making enterprise (for this news, please refer to this thread: https://sgtalk.net/Thread-For-profit-pol...-fund-town ).
......
Taxation-by-citation is entrenched in far too many jurisdictions in America. Just like we saw in Ferguson, Missouri, where court fines and fees -- largely traffic-related -- were a major source of city revenue in recent years, local governments have been using fines and fees unchecked for decades.
Throughout the US, criminal justice policy and tax policy are two sides of the same coin. Relying on crime to keep revenue flowing is an implicit bet against public safety -- if crime goes down, so does revenue.
......
Since the abusive policing and collections practices of Ferguson, Missouri, came to light several years ago, it's become clear this is not just a Ferguson problem. In California, traffic tickets that used to cost $100 are now closer to US$500. Doraville, Georgia, a town with a population of just over 10,000 people, took in an average of US$3 million a year from fines and fees. And Washington, DC issued US$1 billion in traffic and parking tickets over three years.
When someone can't afford to immediately pay, draconian collections and enforcement practices trap families in a cycle of punishment that's nearly impossible to escape. Turning law enforcement into armed debt collectors further erodes the trust between community and law enforcement.
......
It is illegal for courts to sentence people to jail in the US when a person is unable to pay their debt — but in practice, people are jailed every day over unpaid fines and fees.
......
among the Alabamians surveyed who owed criminal justice debt, nearly 50% were jailed because they couldn't keep up with their payments. To avoid jail, many survey respondents had to make desperate choices: 83% chose not to pay for basic needs like rent, utilities or medicine; 44% took out a high-cost payday loans; and 38% turned to crime to get the money they needed to stay out of jail — most often selling drugs, stealing or sex work.
Putting a stop to policing for profit requires policy change
......
To prevent predatory policing, hold police and courts accountable for their behavior and mitigate the harm caused by excessive fines and taxes, we must untangle criminal justice policy from fiscal policy.
We can start by eliminating criminal justice fees, which are a wildly regressive tax. While fines are meant to hold people accountable, the main purpose of fees and court costs is to generate revenue to support basic government operations.
States should also require that all fines and fees be remitted to a state's general fund and re-allocated to cities based on need, not based on the amount of ticket revenue they raise. This removes the direct incentive to make unnecessary or questionable stops as a fallback measure to raise revenue, while leaving local governments free to prioritize public safety needs.
Much better to read full opinion at: https://edition.cnn.com/2022/02/01/opini...index.html
