For the last seven weeks, the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office has quietly dismissed more than 3,000 cases where people were charged with driving on suspended, revoked or canceled driver’s licenses.

“We purposely kept a lid on it for a variety of reasons, but mainly because I wanted to get some data,” said District Attorney General Amy Weirich about the new policy. “I wanted to see if this was going to have any impact and when you do something like this, you are not sure what it’s going to do, so we rolled it out and we’ve been counting the numbers and they are huge.”

Since the DA’s new policy began Sept. 1, 3,643 cases in Shelby County of driving while a license is suspended, revoked or canceled have been dismissed by prosecutors, reducing these cases on dockets 43 percent in General Sessions criminal courts, according to data Weirich’s office released Friday.

Weirich said in a phone interview Friday morning this new policy is not a pilot project, but here to stay.

“This is not just a one-time deal,” she said. “This is how we are going to function going forward. Again, it is going to free up individuals in our office and in other parts of the criminal justice system to focus our time and energy on the issues that matter. To focus on the violent crime, to focus on what it is that really has the community concerned.”

Weirich said people driving on suspended licenses will still be arrested or issued misdemeanor citations by police, but when they come to court, if their license was revoked solely because of money, the cases will be tossed.

“Those whose licenses have been revoked for reasons such as drunken driving or other criminal activity will still be prosecuted, but if your driver’s license has been revoked only because you owe fines or child support, the case will be dismissed,” she said.

The issue of drivers racking up traffic and court fees for suspended licenses is not only a problem locally but nationwide.

“This is not just a one-time deal. This is how we are going to function going forward. Again, it is going to free up individuals in our office and in other parts of the criminal justice system to focus our time and energy on the issues that matter. To focus on the violent crime, to focus on what it is that really has the community concerned.”
Amy Weirich, Shelby County district attorney

Tennessee is one of 43 states that has revoked, canceled or suspended driver’s licenses over unpaid court costs. From July 1, 2012, to June 1, 2016, the state revoked 146,211 such licenses for not paying fines and court debt; only about 10,750, or 7 percent, had their licenses reinstated.

In Memphis, around 40,000 licenses are revoked annually and only about 20,000 are reinstated, according to General Sessions Court.

A 2012 Tennessee law that says non-payment of criminal court costs after one year results in a driver's license suspension is being challenged in a lawsuit filed by several organizations including Just City, a Memphis organization working on criminal justice issues.

This summer, U.S. District Judge Aleta A. Trauger ruled that in Tennessee it is unconstitutional to revoke licenses because of unpaid court costs. Tennessee is appealing the federal court ruling, but this week, the federal court granted a preliminary injunction ordering the state to halt all suspensions of driver’s licenses for nonpayment of traffic debt. Tennessee is also appealing this ruling.

Weirich said her office’s new policy was in place before the newest court ruling.

“We had already started doing it, and this is really separate and apart from that because I don’t know what is going to happen to those opinions on appeal,” Weirich said. “So, even if none of that was happening in Middle Tennessee, it is what we were going to do in Shelby County because it is the right thing to do for the citizens of Shelby County.”

To further help drivers with suspended licenses, on Oct. 27 Weirich’s office is holding an event called “Restoration Saturday II” where their office and several other agencies come together at Metropolitan Baptist Church to help drivers get their licenses restored. This is the second time this year the DA’s office has hosted this driver’s license restoration event.

“We’re trying to help get people out of the revolving door in which they are simply accumulating more and more debt for basically driving while poor,” Weirich said.

Josh Spickler, executive director of Just City, applauded Weirich's new policy.

"I think it is one piece of the solution to decriminalizing poverty," Spickler said.

Spickler hopes it trickles down to the Memphis Police Department.

"We have not seen any announcement or indication from Memphis police about what they will do when they pull someone over who has a suspended license because of poverty," Spickler said. "I recognize that there are different issues at play there because you are on the street and it is a fluid situation, but the next step in this is to stop arresting people, to stop citing people and to stop requiring prosecutors have to make this decision.

"What if the Memphis Police Department said we're no longer going to be the debt collector for the court system," he added.

In an emailed statement, MPD Director Michael Rallings said, “I encourage individuals with a revoked or suspended license to use alternative means of transportation as they seek to restore their driving privileges. The Memphis Police Department will continue to enforce the laws of the state of Tennessee, which includes T.C.A. 55-50-504.”

Rallings encouraged drivers to get help to restore their license through the DA's upcoming restoration event or through the City Court Clerk’s “Drive While You Pay” program.