Can getting one or even two parking and speeding tickets really get you in jail? If not the tickets themselves, then the payments or the late fines incurred can.
On Last Week Tonight, John Oliver looks at how Americans can find themselves being arrested, imprisoned and in a circle of debt because of the way municipalities handle those who can’t afford to pay the tickets right away. And because people with low incomes often have to take longer to pay even a parking ticket, their fine ends up being ten times as much, or more. In some cases, they have to serve time in jail because those fines aren’t paid off.
Oliver’s segment also looks at how outsourcing the collection of these fines and payments can trap people in a circle of debt collection they can never escape. A grandmother, for example, was arrested because she couldn’t pay off a couple of traffic infractions, then lost her car to pay the fines and late fees, then couldn’t work because she had no car.
It’s an interesting and disheartening look at how cities and counties make money off of fines and suspend driver’s licenses for offenses that may not have even put anyone in danger.