Our justice system
is far from perfect, we see this obvious stain from the amount of people we
jail everyday; often on offenses that harm no one.
What is worse is
we have an obvious two-tiered justice system, where massive numbers of people
who end up in jail are there because they could not pay a fine. So they end up
with more fines, in jail, costing the taxpayers unnecessary money.
History lesson
“A debtors'
prison is a prison
for people
who are unable to pay debt.
These prisons have been used since ancient times. Through the mid 19th century,
debtors' prisons were a common way to deal with unpaid debt in Western Europe.
Though increasing access and lenience throughout the history of bankruptcy law have rendered
debtors' prisons irrelevant over most of the world, as of May 2013,
they persist in countries such as the United Arab
Emirates, Hong Kong,
Greece,
and the United States.”
“Supreme
Court Ruling Not Enough To Prevent Debtors' Prisons”
“That
decision came in a 1983 case called Bearden v. Georgia, which held
that a judge must first consider whether the defendant has the ability to pay,
but "willfully" refuses.”
“However,
the Supreme Court didn't tell courts how to determine what it means to
"willfully" not pay. So it's left to judges to make the sometimes
difficult calculations.”
“An
NPR news investigation has found there are wide discrepancies in how judges
make those decisions. And everyday, people go to jail because they failed to
pay their court debts.”
“"It's
not that it's wrong to charge people money as a way to punish them," says
Miriam Aukerman, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of
Michigan. "But there have to be alternatives for people who can't pay. And
that alternative cannot be: incarceration if you're poor, payment if you're
rich."”
“She
faults judges for not doing enough to find alternatives to fees for
impoverished defendants, such as assigning more community service or even
waiving some fines and fees.”
“NPR
surveyed laws in 50 states and the District of Columbia and found that
defendants get charged for a long list of government services that were once
free — including ones that are constitutionally required.”
“When
people struggle to pay those fees, they have violated probation and can go to
jail. The practice is called "pay or stay" — pay the fine or stay in
jail.
Please
listen to the Stephen Papa case: http://www.npr.org/2014/05/19/310710716/profiles-of-those-forced-to-pay-or-stay
“Papa
was a homeless veteran of the Iraq War, who was living on friends' couches.”
“When
he appeared in court the month after his arrest, the judge expected him to pay
an installment on the $2,600 he owed in restitution, fines and court fees. The
judge wanted $50, but Papa had only brought $25 to court that day.”
Read
the whole thing here: http://www.npr.org/2014/05/21/313118629/supreme-court-ruling-not-enough-to-prevent-debtors-prisons
Have you ever had a credit card that you were late on
paying, and then the credit card company adds more fees than you actually owed
on the card? Imagine the credit card debt equates to jail time, and when you
get out of jail you get a bill for your time in jail; and by the way you are
also unemployed.
My bringing this up is not going solve this problem, but I
do hope it brings awareness to the fact that being more in this country can be
a crime, both socially and criminally, and that is not justice.
Dr Flavius A
B Akerele III
The ETeam
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