Forty-three U.S. states can suspend people’s driver’s licenses for failure to pay fines, regardless of their ability to pay, a policy that selectively punishes the poor, the Legal Aid Justice Center said in a report today. This policy not only makes it more difficult for poor people to care for themselves and their children, but “paradoxically,”
State Laws Punish Poor By Suspending Their Driver’s Licenses
In five states alone, a total of more than 4.2 million drivers have had their licenses suspended or revoked for failure to pay court debt, be it traffic or criminal, the report found. Texas leads the nation with 1.8 million such suspensions.
