The Detroit Justice Center, along with our partners at DTE, were featured in the above short film Road To Restoration: Michigan, put together by the team at Fined Out and JoLu Productions. The film covers our work as part of the statewide Road to Restoration clinics where we have been able to help thousands of Michiganders restore their driving licenses. As we know, driving with a suspended license can trap people in a cycle of fines, fees and court debt that can feel impossible to get out of. We hope that our work to shift traffic enforcement policy and restore people’s licenses can serve as an example to other states that are facing the same issues. To learn more, watch the film and hear from some of our team as well as many of our clients.
From FinedOut.com: In communities across the U.S., people are being fined, charged, and jailed,
not because they’ve committed serious crimes, but because they’re poor.
A traffic ticket or court fee might seem minor, but for those living paycheck to paycheck, it can trigger a devastating chain reaction: suspended licenses, mounting debt, arrest warrants, and even incarceration. This isn’t about accountability, it’s about using the justice system to generate revenue from those who can least afford it. Fined Out lifts the curtain on this hidden economy of punishment, and highlights the growing movement to end it.