Race, Poverty, and Debt-Related Driver’s License Suspensions

Abstract Most driver’s license suspensions in the State of Ohio are, in fact, not the result of being a bad driver. Rather, they are based on an unpaid debt. Known as debt-related suspensions (DRS), they create physical and financial barriers, disrupting the everyday lives of those impacted. Despite progress in limiting the practice, half of all states, including Ohio, still engage in the practice, and so research into the scale, scope, and implications of DRS takes on a heightened importance. This research focuses on three understudied dimensions of DRS. First, it adds to only a handful of statewide analyses by providing an accounting of the practice in Ohio from 2016 to 2020. Second, the analysis provides specific detail in terms of the financial implications of DRS across seven different DRS categories. Third, the research examines race, poverty, and other correlates of DRS in a regression framework. Findings show DRS in Ohio to be a problem of scale: In an average year, the state has over 3.2 million active DRS on 1.7 million Ohio drivers. They levy over $758 M in fees and costs, and drivers pay over $167 M. On average, the unpaid DRS debt is over $900 M annually, reaching over $1 billion in 2018, its peak year. DRS are overrepresented in Ohio’s high poverty and high People of Color communities. Ohio’s highest poverty ZIP Codes had 40 times the DRS compared to the lowest poverty ZIP Codes. Similarly, Ohio’s ZIP Codes with the highest percent People of Color had more DRS than the lowest percent People of Color ZIP Codes—nearly 140 times more. Regression results reinforce these findings, indicating particularly severe impacts among Ohio’s working poor and in communities of color. The burden of Ohio’s debt-related suspensions rests disproportionately on the shoulders of these communities. These findings raise several questions about the state’s policy and practice surrounding debt-related suspensions.