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Are California's steep traffic fines unconstitutional?
LA Times ^ | May 5, 2015 | Carolyn Magnuson, Long Beach

Posted on 05/06/2015 8:03:59 PM PDT by 11th_VA

To the editor: The 8th Amendment to the U.S Constitution forbids imposing excessive fines. Courts have found a fine to be excessive when it is arbitrary, capricious or "so grossly excessive as to amount to a deprivation of property without due process of law."

The California Vehicle Code fine structure apparently meets this standard. However, if violators were provided the option of performing community service to work off their fines, the financial impact could be substantially reduced, thereby resolving the 8th Amendment issue.

Further, for the most part, the money raised from the add-on charges is being used to fund programs that are unrelated to the underlying violations and are traditionally funded by taxes through the state's general fund. The add-on fines are imposed to increase state revenues and are therefore underground taxes imposed without the required legislative processes.

If so, the imposition of these assessments must be halted, and those who have been improperly taxed deserve a refund.

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Extended News; Government; US: California
KEYWORDS: california; donutwatch
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To: Ben Mugged

The point. You missed it.


21 posted on 05/06/2015 8:58:24 PM PDT by Half Vast Conspiracy (PS I live north of San Diego. Come & get me.)
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To: 11th_VA

Do the illegals get public assistance to pay traffic fines?


22 posted on 05/06/2015 9:01:58 PM PDT by ltc8k6
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To: 11th_VA

What’s “driving” this issue is that now the illegals with licenses cannot pay the fines. The push is to expose the unfairness of the fines on the poor illegals and to begin a reassessment/reduction based on that.


23 posted on 05/06/2015 9:04:44 PM PDT by broken_clock ( Cruz back to the future!)
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To: broken_clock
What’s “driving” this issue is that now the illegals with licenses cannot pay the fines. The push is to expose the unfairness of the fines on the poor illegals and to begin a reassessment/reduction based on that.

Exactly: @latstevelopezIs $197 too much to pay for crossing the street?:

Hundreds of readers responded to my column about 22-year-old Glendale Community College student-athlete Eduardo Lopez, who was on his way to school when he got smacked with a $197 ticket for entering a crosswalk after the flashing countdown had begun...

...a recent report by several civil rights groups that outlined how citations push people deeper into poverty and result in suspended licenses...

24 posted on 05/06/2015 9:12:09 PM PDT by 11th_VA (where's Brutus?)
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To: minnesota_bound

Illegals don’t pay them either.


25 posted on 05/06/2015 9:15:04 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: 11th_VA

And a misdemeanor arrest warrant on your permanent record if you are found to have driven reckless in Virginia. So forever after on all those forms where they ask “have you ever been arrested for a misdemeanor”, you have to write “yes”.

No thank you.


26 posted on 05/06/2015 9:20:28 PM PDT by Freedom_Is_Not_Free (Lord God help us.)
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To: 11th_VA

I miss the $10 on the spot fine.


27 posted on 05/06/2015 9:23:03 PM PDT by razorback-bert (Due to the high price of ammo, no warning shot will be fired.)
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To: 11th_VA

“Campbell is not without compassion. In an unusual case Wednesday, he suspended jail time in favor of community service for a man who was going 92 mph. The man had a clean record for more than 20 years, cooperated with the officer, went to driver improvement school before appearing in court”


28 posted on 05/06/2015 9:30:24 PM PDT by TexasGator
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To: 11th_VA

“For the last three years,”

1997 to 1999 ....


29 posted on 05/06/2015 9:30:56 PM PDT by TexasGator
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To: TexasGator

It’s a long story - I had to face Judge Campbell and got my license suspended for 60 days. They published the story about a week after I got my ticket and I sweated going to court for months. That’s how I knew the story was in the Washington Post archive.


30 posted on 05/06/2015 10:05:52 PM PDT by 11th_VA (where's Brutus?)
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To: TexasGator

Suspended for 60 days - I was doing 86 mph in a 65 mph zone - 21 miles over speed limit with a clean record.


31 posted on 05/06/2015 10:10:22 PM PDT by 11th_VA (where's Brutus?)
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To: TexasGator

When I went to court there was a hippie in front of me wearing buckskin outfit he hadn’t changed in years - Judge Campbell was super compassionate to him and the Hispanic truck driver after him. But when he got to me, he went ballistic - I never should have tried to defend myself.


32 posted on 05/06/2015 10:17:47 PM PDT by 11th_VA (where's Brutus?)
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To: fhayek

5 miles over the speed limit is a $350-$400 ticket.
If you don’t do traffic school your insurance can with a ticket cost you lots of money, so you have to spend $200 for the privilege of going to traffic school. That is a waste of a day and this can possibly go OVER $600.


33 posted on 05/06/2015 10:25:09 PM PDT by A CA Guy ( God Bless America, God Bless and keep safe our fighting men and women.)
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To: razorback-bert
"I miss the $10 on the spot fine."

I plan to retire to Thailand (Chiang Mai) within a couple of years. The corruption there is more out in the open, but you can at least pay $10.00 or $20.00 for a Red Light violation on the spot in most cases.

I believe Red Light violations in California are posted as being a $490.00 fine, not to mention your insurance getting jacked up as well.

Or maybe that's the fine for carpool violations, another scam. Nobody uses those lanes and they create more traffic by trying to force people to rideshare.

Social engineering failure.

34 posted on 05/06/2015 10:28:24 PM PDT by Rodney Dangerfield (Why did Nero fiddle while Rome burned? Because Golf hadn't been invented yet.)
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To: Rodney Dangerfield

I recently got caught doing 15 mph over the limit in North Dakota - $15 fine, no joke. If the Mosquitos weren’t so big there and the winters weren’t so cold, I’d think about moving there.


35 posted on 05/06/2015 10:42:43 PM PDT by 11th_VA (where's Brutus?)
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To: A CA Guy

Courts in CA have more cash registers than a Super Walmart.

People are taking out traffic fine loans.


36 posted on 05/06/2015 10:43:17 PM PDT by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
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To: dragnet2

Cameras as well.
Beverly Hills Court closed for lack of funds.
The state is out of control.


37 posted on 05/06/2015 10:46:37 PM PDT by A CA Guy ( God Bless America, God Bless and keep safe our fighting men and women.)
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To: 11th_VA

I just got done paying a 234 dollar speeding ticket in California. I was guilty and deserved it. what got me was that they charged me 5 dollars to pay on line and if I wanted to do traffic school there was an additional 65 dollar charge for the privilege of going to traffic school. if I go to a web site to take a internet traffic school course itb is an additional 20 dollars for the course. all of this for going 82 miles per hour in a 65 mp hour zone. I ended up not doing the traffic school because I could barley afford paying the ticket. all I have is liability son my car so I don’t see my insurance going up to much for the infraction. If the court was reasonable on the administration fee for traffic school I would of don it.


38 posted on 05/06/2015 11:44:59 PM PDT by PCPOET7 (BUT MAK)
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To: PAR35
Someone at the LATimes must have gotten a traffic ticket. They probably thought they were exempt from the rules for the proles.

Just call it a tax - the Times will support it then.

39 posted on 05/06/2015 11:51:50 PM PDT by BookmanTheJanitor
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To: 11th_VA
The 20mph is one violation. The willful and wanton disregard for the life and property of others is a separate but equal violation.
40 posted on 05/07/2015 12:10:28 AM PDT by Domangart
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