Illegal Debtor prisons return: As Court Fees Rise, The Poor Are Paying The Price

[boutons_deux]

As Court Fees Rise, The Poor Are Paying The Price

In Augusta, Ga., a judge sentenced Tom Barrett to 12 months after he stole a can of beer worth less than $2.

In Ionia, Mich., 19-year-old Kyle Dewitt caught a fish out of season; then a judge sentenced him to three days in jail.

In Grand Rapids, Mich., Stephen Papa, a homeless Iraq War veteran, spent 22 days in jail, not for what he calls his "embarrassing behavior" after he got drunk with friends and climbed into an abandoned building, but because he had only $25 the day he went to court.

GUILTY AND CHARGED: KEY FINDINGS

NPR's yearlong investigation included more than 150 interviews with lawyers, judges, offenders in and out of jail, government officials, advocates and other experts. It also included a nationwide survey — with help from NYU's Brennan Center for Justice and the National Center for State Courts — of which states are charging defendants and offenders fees. Findings of this investigation include:

• Defendants are charged for a long list of government services that were once free — including ones that are cons utionally required.
• Impoverished people sometimes go to jail when they fall behind paying these fees.
• Since 2010, 48 states have increased criminal and civil court fees.
• Many courts are struggling to interpret a 1983 Supreme Court ruling protecting defendants from going to jail because they are too poor to pay their fines.
• Technology, such as electronic monitors, aimed at helping defendants avoid jail time is available only to those who can afford to pay for it.

The common thread in these cases, and scores more like them, is the jail time wasn't punishment for the crime, but for the failure to pay the increasing fines and fees associated with the criminal justice system.

A yearlong NPR investigation found that the costs of the criminal justice system in the United States are paid increasingly by the defendants and offenders. It's a practice that causes the poor to face harsher treatment than others who commit identical crimes and can afford to pay. Some judges and politicians fear the trend has gone too far.

A state-by-state survey conducted by NPR found that defendants are charged for many government services that were once free, including those that are cons utionally required. For example:

• In at least 43 states and the District of Columbia, defendants can be billed for a public defender.
• In at least 41 states, inmates can be charged room and board for jail and prison stays.
• In at least 44 states, offenders can get billed for their own probation and parole supervision.
• And in all states except Hawaii, and the District of Columbia, there's a fee for the electronic monitoring devices defendants and offenders are ordered to wear.

http://www.npr.org/2014/05/19/312158...unish-the-poor

[boutons_deux]

Profiles Of Those Forced To 'Pay Or Stay'

A year-long NPR study found that the costs of the criminal justice system in the United States are paid increasingly by the defendants and offenders. In many cases, those defendants are too poor to pay the fines. As a result, the impoverished face harsher treatment — such as more interest charges and even jail time — than those who can afford to pay right away.

Here are just some of the people we found as part of this story. In many cases, their punishment was not for their original crimes but for their inability to pay the rising court costs.

http://www.npr.org/2014/05/19/310710...to-pay-or-stay

[angrydude]

Yea, its not like Legal Aids exists or anything. Or Affidavits of Indigency that can waive ordinary court costs for the indigent.

[angrydude]

Breaking News, McDonalds hates the poor since they are increasingly unable to eat for the same relative cost as richer diners.

[boutons_deux]

Yea, its not like Legal Aids exists or anything. Or Affidavits of Indigency that can waive ordinary court costs for the indigent.

So NPR is spinning bull , NONE of these poor people are actually locked up for not paying fees and fines?

[angrydude]

So NPR is spinning bull , NONE of these poor people are actually locked up for not paying fees and fines?

This just in. Poor people are disadvantaged in life.

The criminal justice system has a lot more problems than rising court costs being equated to debtor's prison.

For most any other type of legal problem poor people can get all costs waived if they investigate it for more than 2 seconds.

I'd say they're getting out ahead.

FYI NPR spins a lot of bull .

[cantthinkofanything]

[boutons_deux]

This just in. Poor people are disadvantaged in life.

The criminal justice system has a lot more problems than rising court costs being equated to debtor's prison.

For most any other type of legal problem poor people can get all costs waived if they investigate it for more than 2 seconds.

I'd say they're getting out ahead.

FYI NPR spins a lot of bull .

FYI, you're full of bull

If these get stay-out-of-jail-free cards exist for indigents, then why are judges/prosecutors not using them? Why are indigents being dinged for the cost of public defenders?

[tlongII]

At least they're getting 3 squares and a bed.

[boutons_deux]

At least they're getting 3 squares and a bed.

and some have to pay for their "3 squares and a bed", some have to pay for-profit companies for ankle monitors for home-detention and probation periods.

[TheSanityAnnex]

Here's a brilliant idea.....don't get arrested.

[boutons_deux]

Here's a brilliant idea.....don't get arrested.

don't have to get arrested to be summoned to court, fined, fee'd, etc.

[Agloco]

Yea, its not like Legal Aids exists or anything. Or Affidavits of Indigency that can waive ordinary court costs for the indigent.

What about the actual fine? That's at the heart of the matter here. They charged him (the dude with the out of season fish) for his meals while he served his term too......an ass move IMO especially when one considers the reason he was in there in the first place.

Here's a brilliant idea.....don't get arrested.

The initial offense brought a fine though. Being arrested was an "option" after the fact to clear the debt.

[Winehole23]

Criminal justice debt has aggressively metastasized throughout the criminal system. A bewildering array of fees, fines, court costs, non-payment penalties, and high interest rates have turned criminal process into a booming revenue center for state courts and corrections. As criminal justice administrative costs have skyrocketed, the burden to fund the system has fallen largely on the system’s users, primarily poor or indigent, who often cannot pay their burden. Unpaid criminal justice debt often leads to actual incarceration or substantial punitive fines, which turns rapidly into “punishment.” Such punishment at the hands of a court, bureaucracy, or private en y compromises the Sixth Amendment right to have all punishment imposed by a jury. This Article explores the netherworld of criminal justice debt and analyzes implications for the Sixth Amendment jury trial right, offering a new way to attack the problem. The specter of “cash-register justice,” which overwhelmingly affects the poor and dispossessed, perpetuates hidden inequities within the criminal justice system. I offer solutions rooted in Sixth Amendment jurisprudence.

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.c...act_id=2837076