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.