January 30, 2025 / Criminal Justice, Economics, Equity

GBPI found disparities across race and income on the ability to pay fines and fees from traffic ticketsImage

Excessive reliance on fines and fees by local governments creates lasting barriers to economic security, particularly for Black Georgians and low-income individuals. The resulting debt can limit access to stable work, housing, and economic opportunities while increasing entanglement with the criminal legal system.

A survey conducted by the University of Georgia’s SPIA Survey Research Center on September 11, 2024, for the Georgia Budget & Policy Institute (GBPI), collected data to better understand the impact of everyday dynamics and historical discrimination on Black communities, which have led to overpolicing and the erosion of their income and wealth.

Statewide trends:

  • Nearly 15% of all Georgians have been unable to afford a traffic ticket at some point in their lives, with the rate rising to over 20% for Black Georgians and those earning $15,000–$49,000 per year.
  • Black Georgians are more than twice as likely as white Georgians to be placed on a payment plan for a traffic ticket they couldn’t pay on time.
  • Georgians of color are more likely to go into debt or face legal consequences, including criminal records, jail time, and misdemeanor probation, due to unpaid traffic tickets.

Read the full report here.

March 1, 2023 / Criminal Justice, Economics, Education, Equity, General, Health, Housing, Policy, Workforce

The State of Black GeorgiaImage

“The State of Black Georgia is an educational tool and call to action for Black Georgians, public and private sector stakeholders and the general public that can inform civic engagement, non-profit organizations, elected officials, businesses, policy makers, grass roots organizations, philanthropists, faith-based organizations, researchers, advocates, and other key stakeholders. Together, we can promote inclusive economic development, influential partnerships, and implementation of best practice models that foster overall improvement in conditions for Georgia’s Black residents and the state as a whole.”

From the report:

  • The median wealth of Blacks will fall to zero by 2053 if no action is taken.
  • The percentage of Georgia Black students failing to read at third-grade level was 36%, a 25%
  • increase over the pandemic.
  • Approximately 50% of the inmates admitted in the Georgia Department of Corrections in 2021
  • were Black, yet Black Georgians make up 32% of the State’s population.
  • Fifty-four percent of infant deaths were Black children.
February 27, 2021 / Criminal Justice, Equity, Hispanic

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Despite active COVID-19 cases in secured detention facilities more than doubling between March and mid-December (among youth and staff), the number of youth being detained are on the rise. Black and Latino youth represent an increasingly larger share of the detained population. [report] (The Annie E. Casey Foundation)