A San Diego paper covered how motorists given $35 speeding tickets actually end up owing the state $235 (including a criminal conviction fee, a state court construction charge, and a DNA identification fee).

Recently, The St. Louis Post Dispatch reported another, all too typical story:

Wakita Shaw’s troubles started with a $425 payday loan, the kind of high-interest, short-term debt that seldom ends well for the borrower . . .  Shaw was surprised in May of last year to hear that the St. Louis County police were looking for her. She and her mother went to the police station. They arrested her on the spot. They told her the bail was $1,250 . . . People do go to jail over private debt. It’s a regular occurrence in metro St. Louis, on both sides of the Mississippi River.

So, a recent split decision by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals is likely to be of interest to more than a few people.

Wis. judges on 7th Circuit uphold jail booking fee, over strong dissent:  Bruce Vielmetti has this post on the “Proof & Hearsay” blog of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, reporting on the ruling made by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

For a broader discussion, the Brennan Center has a great report here.