Legal Question in Constitutional Law in Tennessee

Re: Override

In most states routine moving violations are considered civil matters rather than criminal, so the provisions of the Constitution dealing with criminal trials do not apply to them.

Defendants are only entitled to public defenders in criminal cases (and even then only when they face possible time behind bars *and* can prove that they are indigent), so once again the civil nature of the traffic court case makes that right unavailable.

The idea that a traffic fine and the resulting insurance premium increase amount to cruel and unusual punishment is absurd. Should the poor be able to get away with crimes punishable by fines just because they can't afford to pay? I realize such things affect the poor more severely than the rest of us, but the only alternative would be to punish the poor less harshly, which would violate the principle of equal protection.

Insurance premiums are not increased by the government, so such increases are not punishment at all. Additional consequences often flow from a court judgment, but that fact alone doesn't mean the consequences are a type of punishment. Actual convictions, for example, often make it difficult for the convicted criminal to find employment later, but this fact also is not due to government action and thus is not punishment. Something that isn't part of a criminal punishment at all clearly can't qualify as cruel and unusual punishment.