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  • Minnesota Freedom Fund Bails Out Those Who Can't Afford It

    Bonita Gooch Jazzlyn Johnson

    August 20, 2020 |

    The Community Voice |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Minneapolis, Minnesota

    The Minnesota Freedom Fund spent its first four years as a modestly funded nonprofit that used donations to bail people out of jail, as a means of countering a cash bail system that critics see as unfair to people living in poverty and people of color. From 2016 to early 2020, it had a budget of $100,000 per year and bailed out 563 people. Protests against Minneapolis police misconduct produced a windfall of $30 million in donations. The fund has excess funds, beyond what's needed to bail out protesters, and faces some criticism that it has freed people accused of violence.

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  • They Stopped Suspending Licenses ... And Fine Collections Went Up

    Bonita Gooch

    July 27, 2020 |

    The Community Voice |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, San Francisco, California

    When San Francisco courts stopped suspending drivers' licenses for failure to pay fees and fines, revenues actually increased. The reform, aimed at avoiding trapping poor people in endless cycles of debt and incarceration, was paired with affordable payment plans and alternatives to cash fines and fees as ways to hold people accountable for traffic violations. The rest of California, and eventually six other states and the District of Columbia, followed suit. The reforms have countered a trend that turned a traffic safety measure into a revenue generator for governments, on the backs of the poor.

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