IRE Radio Podcast | Hooked on Fines
When protests rocked Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, few realized the tensions could be traced to a policy-based problem — local police were fining residents at abnormally high rates to fund the city’s operating budget. Mike Maciag of Governing Magazine spent a year looking into other communities reliant on fines. He found a trend that’s destabilizing governments in low-income communities across the country.
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RESOURCES
Looking for links to the stories and resources we discussed on this week’s podcast? We’ve collected them for you.
- Read Mike Maciag’s investigation, “Addicted to Fines”
- Learn about the methodologies Mike used for each state.
- Search for cases on the Institute for Justice website.
- Contact Mike for data: mike [dot] maciag [at] gmail [dot] com.
- Members only: Download the tipsheet “Putting your town under a microscope — and keeping it there” by Kate Howard
- Members only: Download the tipsheet “Finding Stories in Local Meeting Agendas and Other Routine Places” by Erin Mansfield
- Members only: Download the tipsheet “Pulling of big projects in small(er) newsrooms” by Evan Wyloge, Emily Le Coz and Nate Morabito
MUSIC
The Telling (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
Bauxite (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
Pinky (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
Elegant Weasel (Blue Dot Sessions) / CC BY-NC 4.0
CREDITS
Kelly Kenoyer reported this episode. IRE Editorial Director Sarah Hutchins edits the podcast. We are recorded in the studios of KBIA at the University of Missouri.