It's a classic perverse incentive: local governments profit from crime. I think all fees (and fines and proceeds from auctions of confiscated goods) should byp

It's a classic perverse incentive: local governments profit from crime. I think all fees (and fines and proceeds from auctions of confiscated goods) should bypass local governments entirely and go directly to the state general fund to lessen the incentive to "make crime." One example: parking tickets. Parking tickets stopped being about fairly distributing a public good decades ago. Parking tickets are now a revenue stream for cities -- and that's it. Local governments have long since forgotten their original intent. Confiscated goods are an even more outrageous problem. Even if you aren't convicted of a crime, a police department may decide to keep your cash and your property. Often, you have to sue to get it back. I'm convinced that if these revenue streams bypassed local governments completely, suddenly they would be a lot less interested in their enforcement.