The tyranny of a traffic ticket for poor people of color [View all]

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When Philando Castile was pulled over in July, it was at least his 46th traffic stop — almost all related to fairly minor traffic violations. And it would be his last.

By the end of the stop — reportedly in part over a broken taillight — a police officer, apparently scared that Castile was grabbing for a gun, shot and killed the 32-year-old. Castile’s girlfriend then live-streamed the immediate aftermath on Facebook, calmly retelling the story of how a minor traffic stop for a low-level offense turned into a death sentence.

Castile’s story isn’t unique. Eric Garner, Samuel DuBose, Sandra Bland — these are just a few of the victims of police and the criminal justice system over the past several years, but they all fall into the same basic framework: A routine stop or arrest for a low-level offense went horribly wrong, leaving someone dead after they were accused of a misdemeanor or crime that typically doesn’t even involve prison time.

The tragic outcomes show just another way low-level offenses can trap someone for life — and even to death — in the criminal justice system. For starters, every one of these encounters carries a risk that something will go terribly wrong — as it did for Garner, DuBose, Bland, and Castile.

But the system can also make these encounters happen frequently, and with increasing weight in a person’s life. It begins with one ticket or a traffic stop. But if someone can’t afford to pay that fine, police might try to stop or arrest him or her again to get the person to pay up.

This can lead to someone getting fined again for not paying up the first time. And again. And again. One ticket leads to a vicious cycle that can sink someone for life.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/the-tyranny-of-a-traffic-ticket/ar-BBvhXH5?li=BBnb7Kz