Category: Police

Alabama Suspending Thousands of Licenses 3/28/19

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has suspended somewhere around 23,000 Alabama residents Drivers Licenses due to nonpayment on unpaid traffic tickets. The SPLC argues that such a law is unconstitutional due to the State not first assessing the individuals ability to pay these tickets.

The lawsuit challenges a law that allows a person’s driver’s license to be suspended for unpaid traffic tickets, without taking into account the person’s ability to pay. The law is unconstitutional, and harms thousands of low-income families across the state, according to the complaint. [1]

This is not the first time that the SPLC has fought a similar law. In Mississippi, over 100,000 drivers had their licenses suspended for the very same reason, and SPLC was able to reach an agreement with the State, allowing for reinstatement of suspended licenses, an end to the practice, and waiving of the $100 reinstatement fee in the State for those drivers affected [2].

Sources

Source 1: https://www.splcenter.org/news/2018/11/19/splc-sues-alabama-unlawfully-suspending-thousands-driver%E2%80%99s-licenses

Source 2: https://www.splcenter.org/news/2017/12/19/splc-reaches-agreement-mississippi

Backlog of Rape Kits in NY lead to over 1,000 arrests 3/13/19

Kits that sat for up to 15 years and went untested were finally forced into testing by the
Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr.

There is an estimated 155,000 other kits that have gone untested to date, and some of the kits that were tested with a positive match ended up leading to no arrests, due to the
Statute of Limitations running out.

Languishing evidence in over 100,000 sexual assault cases around the country has been sent for DNA testing with money from a New York prosecutor and federal authorities, spurring over 1,000 arrests and hundreds of convictions in three years, officials say.

It’s estimated that another 155,000 or more sex assault evidence kits still await testing, and thousands of results have yet to be linked to suspects. Many who have been identified can’t be prosecuted because of legal time limits and other factors.

This is an issue that pervades across the United States and laws need to be amended to ensure Police Stations are doing their job and testing these kits when they arrive.

Source: https://apnews.com/c87e200f99844d649788e90b588a0d49