The role of financial incentives in mass incarceration is often thought of in terms of the role of private contractors and private prisons. But the far greater financial incentive in mass incarceration comes from the public sector—the role of police in imposing fines and fees on local residents as a strategy to secure revenues for public budgets. This practice is happening all over the country, but now, a new report from Fines and Fees Justice Center explores the extent of this perverse fiscal strategy in the nation’s capital, Washington DC. Michael Johnson, Jr. of the DC Fiscal Policy Institute joins Rattling the Bars to discuss this eye-opening report, “The Hidden Cost of Justice.”

Studio / Post-Production: Cameron Granadino

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