An $80 ticket turned into an $800 debt: New report shows how California court fees pile up
“’It was just another burden, just knowing that I had these fees, that I was in debt,’ Jeffcoat said. ‘It’s a way to keep people oppressed. … It’s a way to keep people down, and doesn’t help anybody besides the courts.’ A relatively obscure courts fee called civil assessments is disproportionately impacting hundreds of thousands of low-income Californians of color for being unable to pay their traffic tickets and missing their payment deadline, according to a new report published Wednesday by the Debt Free Justice California coalition.”