Abstract
Non-incarcerative punishments such as fines are widely used, but the deterrence and distributional effects of this class of punishments depend crucially on the consequences for punishment noncompliance. I provide new evidence on the importance of these noncompliance costs using a unique natural experiment in Washington that first eliminated and then reinstated automatic driver's license suspensions as a penalty for noncompliance with traffic offenses. The shift in noncompliance costs created by automatic license suspensions lead to large increases in compliance, fine-repayment and total punishment with a stronger effect in low-income zip-codes, but also suggestive declines in traffic accidents among low-income drivers.
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