Here’s a super hot take from Laurie Rollitt
A Billionaire and a Nurse Shouldn’t Pay the Same Fine for Speeding
If Mark Zuckerberg and a janitor who works at Facebook’s headquarters each received a speeding ticket while driving home from work, they’d each owe the government the same amount of money. Mr. Zuckerberg wouldn’t bat an eye.
The janitor is another story.
For people living on the economic margins, even minor offenses can impose crushing financial obligations, trapping them in a cycle of debt and incarceration for nonpayment. In Ferguson, Mo., for example, a single $151 parking violation sent a black woman struggling with homelessness into a seven-year odyssey of court appearances, arrest warrants and jail time connected to her inability to pay.
Wait, wait, I think I have the answer:
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Don’t commit a crime or civil violation. Don’t speed. Don’t park illegally.
There. Problem solved.
Across America, one-size-fits-all fines are the norm, which I demonstrate in an article for the University of Chicago Law Review. Where judges do have wiggle room to choose the size of a fine, mandatory minimums and maximums often tie their hands. Some states even prohibit consideration of a person’s income. And when courts are allowed to take finances into account, they frequently fail to do so.
This is because, get this, justice is supposed to be blind. Everyone is supposed to be treated equally under the law. Does it stink that a Zuckerberg could care less about a speeding ticket, while you might find it burdensome? Well, sure. But, what happens when penalties start being applied based on pretty much whim, rather than fixed Law? You might think this is great now, but then you get nailed.
Again, don’t do something illegal. Problem solved.
Of course, the screed goes on and on and on, but, I have to wonder: weren’t these same people decrying that Blacks are treated differently? Shouldn’t everyone be treated equally under the law? But, hey, you know, Progressives.
Or, people could just not break the law. Silly me.
