Monday 2016-08-08

Seems hard to believe that no insurance company would offer to transform haphazard ticket fine payments into an annually fixed stream of payments.

Funding is the paramount issue in both Louisiana and Missouri. In Louisiana, the state depends on a user-pay system, where public defender services are largely funded from the fines and fees imposed on people for mostly misdemeanor crimes, like speeding. This funding scheme is pretty volatile: How does the office find financial certainty when its major revenue source is something as unpredictable as speeding-ticket fines? As a result, the New Orleans Public Defender’s office has let go of much of its staff over the past few years.
-- Public defenders get creative