How to Make a Criminal

Take a state, like Texas, mix in punitive traffic laws, add a dash of single mother working for just over minimum wage and presto you have a downward spiral toward becoming a criminal. This is especially true if the single mother does not have a strong, financially supportive extended family.

Look at the mother. She works as a waitress averaging $8.00 per hour during a 35 hour week. She can't work 40 hours as that would make her full time and eligible for benefits, which restaurants rarely offer. That makes her take home pay about $230 per week, or $1213 per month. She makes too much money to qualify for state financial assistance, so she pays all her own bills. She rents a one bedroom apartment for $450 per month with utilities running about $110. Her car is over ten years old, using about 10 gallons of gas each week costing about $30. She has found childcare for only $50 per week, and only carries the minimum car insurance for $70 per month. Shopping at a discount grocery, she can feed her family for about $60 a week. That leaves her about $173 each month for incidentals such as clothes, laundry and maybe a movie or McDonald's treat once a month.

Everything is working out until that one thing happens. Maybe the car breaks down, or she has to visit the doctor, or maybe she gets a speeding ticket for going 29 mph in a school zone. Cars and doctors she can deal with. The speeding ticket is a killer, she now owes the city a $220 fine.

The city allows her to pay the fine on a payment system. She must pay them $50 a month. This really hurts her budget, but as a good citizen she struggles to pay the debt.

When her yearly car inspection fails because of a burned out taillight, she heads right to the parts store for a new bulb, she can afford that. But on the way to the store she gets pulled over for the taillight, and gets another traffic ticket. (This is a true situation)

Now she owes the city $100 a month which she can't afford. She determines that if she lets her car insurance lapse she should just have enough to pay off the fines.