How Driver's License Suspensions Make Poverty Worse

A Republican lawmaker in Florida is setting his sights on reversing a policy that devastates the poor but gets little attention: suspending a person's driver's license. In an interview with the Tampa Bay Times, Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford gave a brief-but-brilliant master class on what criminal justice reformers call "collateral consequences."

"They forgot to show up in court," Weatherford told the paper of the 167,000 Floridians who had their licenses suspended in 2013 for reasons unrelated to driving. "They didn't pay their child support. There's this snowball effect. They lose their driver's license. Now they can't get to work. They get pulled over on a suspended driver's license. Now they go to jail. Now they owe $4,000. It creates poverty. It holds people down."