Debtor’s Prisons: The Escalating Costs of License Suspension

• In Event: From Historic Forensics to Contemporary Criminology: State Control, Crime Prevention, and Disaster

Abstract

States are increasingly utilizing suspension of driving licenses as a fine for drug-related offenses, failure to pay court costs, and other non-driving offenses. Loss of a driving license, meant to be a deterrent, inflicts financial and employment strain on justice-involved individuals. Using data from 75 in-depth interviews, this study examines the snowball effect of license suspension on other areas of justice-involved individuals’ lives. This study also investigates mitigating and aggravating factors that can impact suspension laws. For example, one mitigating factor is living in areas with better public transportation. Finally, this study provides information on various state laws, aside from the state from which participants were studied, to assist with generalizability of these findings to other states. Findings suggest license suspension is related most strongly to employment, health, and income. Because the state studied has, by comparison, lenient laws about license suspension, the practice of using license suspension for non-driving offenses is likely to have more pronounced negative consequences, especially in areas with poor public transit. Implications are discussed.

Author

• Miriam Northcutt-Bohmert, Indiana University Bloomington