petty fines and fees – Overlawyered https://www.overlawyered.com/ Chronicling the high cost of our legal system Wed, 06 May 2020 21:46:20 +0000 en-US hourly 1 Law enforcement for profit roundup https://www.overlawyered.com/2020/05/law-enforcement-for-profit-roundup-6/ https://www.overlawyered.com/2020/05/law-enforcement-for-profit-roundup-6/#comments Fri, 08 May 2020 10:20:07 +0000 https://www.overlawyered.com/?p=73871 Kentucky: “The day before the deal was offered, prosecutors also indicted Card’s wife, mother and father. If Card gave up the cash, the written plea offer said, the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office would drop their charges, too.” [Jacob Ryan, WFPL] Same state, different case: “Conviction Or Not, Seized Cash Is ‘Cost of Doing Business’ In Louisville” […]

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  • Kentucky: “The day before the deal was offered, prosecutors also indicted Card’s wife, mother and father. If Card gave up the cash, the written plea offer said, the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office would drop their charges, too.” [Jacob Ryan, WFPL] Same state, different case: “Conviction Or Not, Seized Cash Is ‘Cost of Doing Business’ In Louisville” [Jacob Ryan, Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting]
  • Judge in New York: “Suffolk County may not charge $80 to resolve a $50 red light camera ticket.” [The Newspaper]
  • “Civil Forfeiture Disenfranchises the Poor” [Cato Daily Podcast with South Carolina lawmaker Alan Clemmons and Caleb Brown] “Class-Action Lawsuit Challenges Detroit’s Asset Forfeiture Racket” [C.J. Ciaramella, Reason]
  • “Father and adult daughter sue feds over confiscated life savings” [Theresa Braine, New York Daily News]
  • “Free to Drive: States punish poverty by suspending millions of driver’s licenses for unpaid fines and fees” How about reserving license suspensions for instances of actual unsafety? [advocacy site with maps and more; related, Tachana Marc, Florida Policy Institute; New York state advocacy site]
  • “Missouri Cops Used Federal Loophole To Seize $2.6 Million From Drivers Who They Never Charged With Crimes” [Zuri Davis]
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    ]]>     https://www.overlawyered.com/2020/05/law-enforcement-for-profit-roundup-6/feed/ 5     February 12 roundup https://www.overlawyered.com/2020/02/february-12-roundup-4/ Wed, 12 Feb 2020 11:05:36 +0000 https://www.overlawyered.com/?p=73920 Did the Supreme Court err in Employment Division v. Smith when it ruled that the Free Exercise Clause provides no exemption from burdens on religious conscience resulting from neutral and generally applicable laws? [Federalist Society Rosenkranz Debate with Michael McConnell and Philip Hamburger] Will the Court revisit Employment Division, as four Justices (Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch, […]

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  • Did the Supreme Court err in Employment Division v. Smith when it ruled that the Free Exercise Clause provides no exemption from burdens on religious conscience resulting from neutral and generally applicable laws? [Federalist Society Rosenkranz Debate with Michael McConnell and Philip Hamburger] Will the Court revisit Employment Division, as four Justices (Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh) recently suggested? [Eric Baxter on Ricks v. Idaho Contractors Board]
  • Maryland: “Don’t suspend drivers’ licenses over fines/fees unrelated to road safety” [my new Free State Notes]
  • “A motley group of powerful companies have their knives out for Section 230, which shields platforms from lawsuits over content posted by users.” [David McCabe, New York Times; Gigi Sohn on Twitter]
  • Did U.S. Customs destroy an African musician’s uniquely crafted instrument, or was it damaged in transit? Stories differ [Isobel van Hagen and Sarah Kaufman, NBC News; earlier here, here, here, etc.]
  • R.I.P. David N. Mayer, emeritus professor at Capital Law and constitutional scholar who did important work on the views of the Founders and on the Contracts Clause [Roger Pilon, Cato]
  • Another Emoluments suit fizzles for lack of standing, as I predicted three years ago [Megan Mineiro, Courthouse News (suit on behalf of individual members of Congress); sage advice from Grover Norquist]
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    February 12 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

    ]]>         Law enforcement for profit roundup https://www.overlawyered.com/2019/12/law-enforcement-for-profit-roundup-5/ https://www.overlawyered.com/2019/12/law-enforcement-for-profit-roundup-5/#comments Mon, 23 Dec 2019 11:03:37 +0000 https://www.overlawyered.com/?p=73595 “A Louisiana DA will let you out of your community service obligation — if you donate to his nonprofit” [Radley Balko; Calcasieu Parish, La.] New study of law enforcement fines and fees finds they bear more heavily on rural residents and have high costs of collection. Also makes a case for periodic forgiveness of mostly-uncollectible […]

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  • “A Louisiana DA will let you out of your community service obligation — if you donate to his nonprofit” [Radley Balko; Calcasieu Parish, La.]
  • New study of law enforcement fines and fees finds they bear more heavily on rural residents and have high costs of collection. Also makes a case for periodic forgiveness of mostly-uncollectible balances of old debt [Matthew Menendez, Michael F. Crowley, Lauren-Brooke Eisen, and Noah Atchison, Brennan Center/Texas Public Policy Foundation/Right on Crime]
  • Oakland County, Mich. “Says Seizing Home Over $8.41 Tax Debt Was OK Because Counties Need Money” [Eric Boehm, Reason first and second posts] “The Unsung Scourge of Home Equity Theft” [Cato podcast with Christina Martin and Caleb Brown]
  • Georgia: “Doraville Homeowners Win Round One in Lawsuit Challenging City’s Overzealous Ticketing Scheme” [J. Justin Wilson, Institute for Justice]
  • Here’s a revisionist (though only partly so) account of the Luzerne County, Pa. cash-for-kids judicial scandal, to which we devoted multiple posts at the time [Roger DuPuis, Wilkes-Barre Times Leader]
  • “Forty-four states have policies of suspending driver’s licenses over unpaid fines, fees or court debts.” Time to rethink [Jenny Kim, WSJ/Koch]
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    ]]>     https://www.overlawyered.com/2019/12/law-enforcement-for-profit-roundup-5/feed/ 1     Law enforcement for profit roundup https://www.overlawyered.com/2019/09/law-enforcement-for-profit-roundup-4/ https://www.overlawyered.com/2019/09/law-enforcement-for-profit-roundup-4/#comments Wed, 18 Sep 2019 10:01:18 +0000 https://www.overlawyered.com/?p=73293 “Addicted to fines: Small towns in much of the country are dangerously dependent on punitive fines and fees” [Mike Maciag, Governing, a publication that will be much missed] “How diversion programs became a cash cow for DAs in Louisiana” [Jessica Pishko, Politico] New Orleans: “Judge steered defendants to campaign contributor’s ankle-monitor company, report says” [ABA […]

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  • “Addicted to fines: Small towns in much of the country are dangerously dependent on punitive fines and fees” [Mike Maciag, Governing, a publication that will be much missed]
  • “How diversion programs became a cash cow for DAs in Louisiana” [Jessica Pishko, Politico] New Orleans: “Judge steered defendants to campaign contributor’s ankle-monitor company, report says” [ABA Journal]
  • Greg and Teresa Almond seizure: “Alabama Cops Raided Their House, Seized Their Cash, and Ruined Their Lives Over $50 of Marijuana” [C.J. Ciaramella, Reason, sequel (more transparency)]
  • “Chicago Hiked the Cost of Vehicle City Sticker Violations to Boost Revenue. But It’s Driven More Low-Income, Black Motorists Into Debt.” [Melissa Sanchez, ProPublica, and Elliott Ramos, WBEZ Chicago] Related earlier on impound here, here, etc.
  • Are the big bucks where you expected them to be? “Follow the money of mass incarceration” [Prison Policy Initiative]
  • “Missouri trial courts send people to jail, charge them room-and-board as ‘court costs,’ then send them back to jail if they can’t pay, yielding — you guessed it — more court costs. Missouri Supreme Court: Cut it out.” [Institute for Justice “Short Circuit” on State v. Richey; Titus Wu, Columbia Missourian]
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    Law enforcement for profit roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

    ]]>     https://www.overlawyered.com/2019/09/law-enforcement-for-profit-roundup-4/feed/ 1     Fifth Circuit: basing judges’ fund on fines and fees violates due process https://www.overlawyered.com/2019/09/fifth-circuit-basing-judges-fund-on-fines-and-fees-violates-due-process/ https://www.overlawyered.com/2019/09/fifth-circuit-basing-judges-fund-on-fines-and-fees-violates-due-process/#comments Wed, 04 Sep 2019 09:59:44 +0000 https://www.overlawyered.com/?p=73549 Orleans Parish, Louisiana (= county, in this case coterminous with the City of New Orleans) funnels the revenue from many criminal fines and fees into a judicial services fund which, while it does not pay judges’ salaries, does cover many related expenses including staff salaries, conferences and office supplies. Judges themselves help determine the volume […]

    Fifth Circuit: basing judges’ fund on fines and fees violates due process is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

    ]]>     Orleans Parish, Louisiana (= county, in this case coterminous with the City of New Orleans) funnels the revenue from many criminal fines and fees into a judicial services fund which, while it does not pay judges’ salaries, does cover many related expenses including staff salaries, conferences and office supplies. Judges themselves help determine the volume of inflow to the fund by their rulings in cases. Now a unanimous Fifth Circuit panel has ruled that given the fund’s substantial dependence on such revenue, the parish “failed to provide a neutral forum” and thus violated defendants’ constitutional right to due process [Nick Sibilla/Forbes, ABA Journal; opinion in Cain v. White]

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    Fifth Circuit: basing judges’ fund on fines and fees violates due process is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

    ]]>     https://www.overlawyered.com/2019/09/fifth-circuit-basing-judges-fund-on-fines-and-fees-violates-due-process/feed/ 2     After a mechanic took it on an unauthorized ride, Chicago impounded her car. And then…. https://www.overlawyered.com/2019/06/after-a-mechanic-took-it-on-an-unauthorized-ride-chicago-impounded-her-car-and-then/ https://www.overlawyered.com/2019/06/after-a-mechanic-took-it-on-an-unauthorized-ride-chicago-impounded-her-car-and-then/#comments Tue, 18 Jun 2019 10:02:58 +0000 https://www.overlawyered.com/?p=73356 Her car was in the shop for work when a mechanic drove it on an expired license. What the city of Chicago did to her then shouldn’t happen to anyone [Elliott Ramos, WBEZ/ProPublica, Institute for Justice on its suit representing Veronica Walker-Davis and Jerome Davis, earlier] An especially outrageous angle from an earlier Ramos/WBEZ story, […]

    After a mechanic took it on an unauthorized ride, Chicago impounded her car. And then…. is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

    ]]>     Her car was in the shop for work when a mechanic drove it on an expired license. What the city of Chicago did to her then shouldn’t happen to anyone [Elliott Ramos, WBEZ/ProPublica, Institute for Justice on its suit representing Veronica Walker-Davis and Jerome Davis, earlier]

    An especially outrageous angle from an earlier Ramos/WBEZ story, quoted in our earlier coverage: “Chicago has impounded and sold off nearly 50,000 cars for unpaid tickets since 2011. Not a dime of the sales went toward the ticket debt; instead, the city and its towing contractor pocketed millions.”

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    After a mechanic took it on an unauthorized ride, Chicago impounded her car. And then…. is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

    ]]>     https://www.overlawyered.com/2019/06/after-a-mechanic-took-it-on-an-unauthorized-ride-chicago-impounded-her-car-and-then/feed/ 3     Environment roundup https://www.overlawyered.com/2019/05/environment-roundup-68/ Fri, 03 May 2019 10:01:40 +0000 https://www.overlawyered.com/?p=73196 EPA confirms the view of its peer agencies around the world: glyphosate weed killer, found in Roundup, is not a carcinogen [Tom Polansek, Reuters, earlier, more] Mayor Bulldozer? Critical look at Pete Buttigieg’s push to tear down hundreds of vacant dilapidated South Bend homes and fine the owners [Henry Gomez, BuzzFeed; see also Chris Sikich, […]

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  • EPA confirms the view of its peer agencies around the world: glyphosate weed killer, found in Roundup, is not a carcinogen [Tom Polansek, Reuters, earlier, more]
  • Mayor Bulldozer? Critical look at Pete Buttigieg’s push to tear down hundreds of vacant dilapidated South Bend homes and fine the owners [Henry Gomez, BuzzFeed; see also Chris Sikich, Indianapolis Star]
  • “Why Trump should call off the EPA’s latest assault on NYC” [Nicole Gelinas, New York Post; $3 billion to revamp and cover over a Yonkers reservoir]
  • “‘High-yield’ farming costs the environment less than previously thought – and could help spare habitats” [Cambridge University]
  • Is clarity finally coming on the scope of federal control of local surface waters? [Jonathan Adler on Trump administration “Waters of the United States” regulation; Tony Francois, Federalist Society on prospects for “navigable waters” at the Supreme Court]
  • “New Jersey Court Strikes Down Use of Eminent Domain to Take Property to “Bank” it for Possible Future Use” [Ilya Somin] Pennsylvania law promoted as fixing blighted neighborhoods used to steal people’s homes [Eric Boehm]
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    ]]>         Canceling drivers’ licenses for nonpayment of fines https://www.overlawyered.com/2019/02/canceling-drivers-licenses-for-nonpayment-of-fines/ https://www.overlawyered.com/2019/02/canceling-drivers-licenses-for-nonpayment-of-fines/#comments Thu, 07 Feb 2019 10:57:22 +0000 https://www.overlawyered.com/?p=72992 “The rational basis test is hard to fail, says the Middle District of Tennessee, but Tennessee’s policy of rescinding the driver’s licenses of people who fail to pay criminal fines and fees is up — or maybe down — to the task.” [John K. Ross, IJ “Short Circuit,” on Robinson v. Purkey; Dave Boucher, Nashville […]

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    ]]>     “The rational basis test is hard to fail, says the Middle District of Tennessee, but Tennessee’s policy of rescinding the driver’s licenses of people who fail to pay criminal fines and fees is up — or maybe down — to the task.” [John K. Ross, IJ “Short Circuit,” on Robinson v. Purkey; Dave Boucher, Nashville Tennesseean]

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    ]]>     https://www.overlawyered.com/2019/02/canceling-drivers-licenses-for-nonpayment-of-fines/feed/ 8     Chicago’s impound accounting https://www.overlawyered.com/2019/01/chicagos-impound-accounting/ https://www.overlawyered.com/2019/01/chicagos-impound-accounting/#comments Tue, 08 Jan 2019 11:05:31 +0000 https://www.overlawyered.com/?p=72910 “Chicago has impounded and sold off nearly 50,000 cars for unpaid tickets since 2011. Not a dime of the sales went toward the ticket debt; instead, the city and its towing contractor pocketed millions.” [Elliott Ramos, WBEZ/ProPublica via (quoted) Melissa Sanchez] Tags: Chicago, petty fines and fees, traffic laws

    Chicago’s impound accounting is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

    ]]>     “Chicago has impounded and sold off nearly 50,000 cars for unpaid tickets since 2011. Not a dime of the sales went toward the ticket debt; instead, the city and its towing contractor pocketed millions.” [Elliott Ramos, WBEZ/ProPublica via (quoted) Melissa Sanchez]

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    Chicago’s impound accounting is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

    ]]>     https://www.overlawyered.com/2019/01/chicagos-impound-accounting/feed/ 4     Chicago impound confound https://www.overlawyered.com/2018/07/chicago-impound-confound/ Sun, 01 Jul 2018 15:56:16 +0000 https://www.overlawyered.com/?p=71525 “It can’t be overstated what a procedural and logistical nightmare it is to get a car impounded in the city of Chicago.” [C.J. Ciaramella, Reason] Related, Atlanta area: “Lawsuit claims Doraville officials writing tickets for profit, not enforcement” [WXIA, Kaitlyn Schallhorn, Fox News] And Pagedale, Mo., a small St. Louis suburb, has agreed “to stop […]

    Chicago impound confound is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

    ]]>     “It can’t be overstated what a procedural and logistical nightmare it is to get a car impounded in the city of Chicago.” [C.J. Ciaramella, Reason] Related, Atlanta area: “Lawsuit claims Doraville officials writing tickets for profit, not enforcement” [WXIA, Kaitlyn Schallhorn, Fox News] And Pagedale, Mo., a small St. Louis suburb, has agreed “to stop bankrolling itself by fining its residents into the poorhouse.” [Scott Shackford, Reason]

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