“The quickest way to drive people deeper into poverty is to take their car away,” says a fines and fees justice advocate in the short documentary, Road to Reform: New Mexico. In New Mexico, where public transportation is limited and rural distances are vast, a suspended license can mean lost jobs, court debt, and jail time, often for something as small as a missed hearing or unpaid ticket. This short documentary features the voices of New Mexicans who were criminalized for being poor, and the statewide movement-including community leaders, legislators, and advocates—that came together to pass landmark bipartisan reform.
This video is a part of Fined Out, a multimedia project that exposes how unjust fines and fees punish poverty to raise revenue—and how communities are fighting back against a system designed to keep them paying.
