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Politics
Sian Mughan, Assistant Professor of Public Affairs, Arizona State University

Traffic tickets can be profitable, and fairness isn't the bottom line in city courts where judges impose the fines

A police officer pulls over and tickets a delivery person in the New York City borough of Queens on March 22, 2023. Lindsey Nicholson/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

When city governments spend more money than they take in, officials often search for ways to generate revenue. One increasingly common source of money is traffic tickets. And research shows police officers issue more traffic tickets when cities are financially in a deficit.

But police represent only one aspect of this revenue-generating system. Judges and their courts also use traffic citations to generate money for the cities that employ them.

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