Making Poverty a Crime

As if poverty was not always a sin, if not a crime in America, then LitHub publishes Why—America Criminalizes Poverty by Tony Messenger. He makes good points, of which I find these more interesting;

Nearly every state in the country has a statute—often called a “board bill” or “pay-to-stay” bill—that charges people for time served. In Missouri and Oklahoma—and in states on both coasts and in the Deep South—these pay-to-stay bills follow defendants arrested initially for small offenses like petty theft or falling behind in child support. Nearly 80 percent of these defendants live below the federal poverty line, meaning they make less than $12,880 a year if they are single, or $21,960 if they are a family of three.

They are the working poor: getting by on minimum wage jobs at the local dollar store; seasonal construction workers who get roofing jobs after tornado season; or, like Bergen, they are unemployed, unable to escape the combination of drug offenses and a criminal justice system that follows them everywhere. In some places, like Rapid City, South Dakota, the charges for jail time are small, $6 a day; in other places, like Riverside County, California, they have been as high as $142 a day. For people of little means, these court debts are an albatross they cannot escape or ignore. “This is truly a national crisis,” says Lisa Foster, a former California Superior Court judge and co-director of the nonprofit Fines and Fees Justice Center. “This is everywhere. All fifty states.”

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 This is the cautionary tale to keep in mind when elected officials offer economic nirvana by cutting taxes: Somebody, somewhere, is always paying the price, whether it’s middle-class families stuck with higher college tuition bills, truckers navigating crumbling highways, or poor people stuck paying the bill of a criminal justice system.

Used to be in Indiana one could not be imprisoned for failing to pay fines if one was indigent. I should check that out - if I can find the time.

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12/13/21