fines are only a punishment for the poor

They . It's supposed to curb the offender and set up a system where I'm not going to do that again. In 2020, Equifax was made to pay further settlements relating to the breach: $7.75 million (plus $2 million in legal fees) to financial institutions in the US plus $18.2 million and $19.5 million . In one county in Washington, for example, over $750 million is outstanding, but the average annual payment is $39 (again, the first $100 go to the collection fee). Some of the devastating consequences include loss of jobs, disruption of child care, inability to pay rent, and deeper destitution, Alston said. So there's a direct relationship to how this debt can impact negatively people's ability to access employment. Ukraine remains in control of a key supply route into the eastern city of Bakhmut, a military spokesperson has said. Legal Financial Obligations: What Are They? Please give now to support our work. In the wake of a constitutional amendment to provide automatic restoration, the Florida legislature proposed a new system in SB 7066, aimed at . and that this kind of activity was actually making it harder for them to gain the publics trust. The Ferguson case is now in the settlement phase. In researching the penalties imposed on young people for not paying LFOs, JLC is discovering that they include civil contempt, criminal contempt, incarceration, further fines, license suspension, violations of probation, violations of informal adjustment, civil judgment, and misdemeanors. Penalties include point deductions of 75-120 points, deductions of 10-25 playoff points, the suspension of one or two crew members for four-to-six races and fines between $100,000 and $250,000. These can take up to 25 percent of a persons income and can take away from money needed for basic living expenses, particularly for someone already living in poverty. And in Washington State, that private collection agency can add 50% to that principal. That's an example where she didn't intend that. . This is not considered an LFO, so they collect this fee before paying out on the underlying LFO, including the restitution. An error occurred while subscribing your email address. They are funded by the local jurisdictions. And I think that when people hear this, sometimes they get frustrated and think that I'm trying to romanticize people who break the law, or saying, "Don't give them any punishment." To become a great country, America needs its laws and basic constitutional principles to evolve as our understanding of human capacity and behavior deepens. But I still argue that right now, if you think of my son's coloring book, and he colors within the lines, I still think that people are just using a different color crayon to color within the lines. They might have to attend victim's classes, they might have electronic home monitoring. How do we measure a punishments cruelty? will tell you that there is such a necessity of strengthening the arm of government, that they must . Share this via Printer. If that amount is increased to $25 per month, then it is 10 years, without accounting for interest or a penalty. I don't think it is very profitable. So I owed $2,000, they could add another $1,000 to that. 239 likes, 8 comments - Jermaine (@therealblackhistorian) on Instagram: "Not only was colonial Pennsylvania a slave-owning society, but the lives of free blacks in the co . So judges and prosecutors are, in some spacesI'm not saying in every courtbut in some spaces, the way that they're interpreting willful nonpayment is their own personal judgment on what people should be using their resources for. Theres a link to the ability-to-pay calculator she helped design on our website. You're also doing some more national work. So that's restitution, and that's part of your punishment. Ooops. This is a purposeful consequence that our policy makers have created for individuals who make contact with our systems of justice, and it's completely counter to everything that we know, as sociologists, as criminologists, about what people need to do, or the types of supports and circumstances that people need to have post-incarceration and conviction in order to be successful and move forward with their lives.WATKINS:And how much has the practice of fines and fees, how much has it grown in recent decades?HARRIS:My argument in my book is that as the result of mass conviction and incarceration, we've seen states in the 90s and the early 2000s dramatically expand the types of fines and fees that can be imposed, and the amounts of fines and fees that can be imposed. It is unfathomable to us today that those who drafted our nations charter nonetheless accepted human slavery, denied women equal treatment and the right to vote, and violently removed Native Americans from their land in what many historians now characterize as genocide. Allen gave examples of Columbia Legal Services clients to explain how LFOs truly work against people who are unable to pay from the very start. What started off as $3,400 in principal that he already lacked the ability to pay has now ballooned over $12,000 in LFOs, and there is really no end in sight because of the interest and because they are not going to expire, Allen points out. COBURN:Well, I think after becoming a judge and being on the benchrealizing my role of when I'm imposing it and what are all the laws that are applicable regarding what is mandatory, what can be waived? Do you have a sense of what the future could be for reforming this system?HARRIS:In my mind, it has to be piecemealstate by state, has to occur. What does it mean for a punishment to be cruel and unusual? That is a change that just took place last year in Washington State?COBURN:Yes, it went into effect in June of 2018. I can make the adjustments because it's the judge that has the responsibility to exercise that discretion, not the clerks.WATKINS:I should say that I have colleagues here at the Center who work with you guys as part of the Bureau of Justice Assistance granton this calculator, that we offer some assistance through that grant, but it sounds like, if I've got this right, that your effort really is to make the fines and fees process more transparent basically to everybody and by doing that, make the process more intentional so people actually know what they're doing. In other counties, anyone who owed any debt would regularly have warrants put out for their arrest, and they'd be incarcerated for up to 60 days.WATKINS:So it's not uncommon, then, for people to end up in jail for being unable to meet their debts, in this case, a debt to the court system?HARRIS:No, it's not uncommon at all. Vaginal Changes. Legal challenges have focused on the Fourteenth Amendment, but there are many cases in the pipeline now to develop Eighth Amendment case law. First, the task force identified the types of civil and criminal court assessments present in Illinois circuit courts, from filing to mandatory arbitration fees. The lower class (poor) are the real subjects of the law. 371 (2021). I think there's a pressure on judges to conduct sentencings and hear as many cases as they can in a short amount of time as they can. All fines should be replaced with community service or a system that gauges fine amounts based on net income. But in California, eliminating juvenile fines and fees is an amazing step forward in recognizing that people who can't work can't pay back this debt. You're charged a booking fee, you're charged when you're put on probation. Evaluation and testing (31 states). State and local governments, with support from the federal government, should respond to the special rapporteurs findings by working together to remedy the two-tiered system of justice, CJPP and Human Rights Watch said. It is hard for us now to understand how the Framers of our Constitution could embrace such a misguided and barbaric practice. Given the makeup and size of our criminal justice system, this unsurprisingly places a disproportionate burden on large numbers of poor people and communities of color., In his report, Alston describes the burden fines and fees place on poor people charged with low-level infractions and the harsh collection tactics that are often designed in ways that trap people in poverty. But I do think more and more increasingly, there's been so much conversation locally and nationally, and also within other states, that judges are aware. During this webinar, Bains focused on the findings pertaining to the court. And I want to pay my restitution. Sanctions for failure to pay. For every nine people executed, one innocent person has been exonerated. Focusing on the original intentions of Founding Fathers cannot resolve important questions about punishment today. Fines (44 states). We are then lost and undone. Largely as a result of these objections, the Constitution was amended to prohibit cruel and unusual punishments. There are many different terms used interchangeably across the countrysuch as monetary sanctions, legal financial obligations (LFOs), and assessments (e.g., in Illinois)to describe the different fines, fees, and costs associated with offenses and the courts. JLC reached out especially to families to collect stories about what happens to young people and their families as a result of LFOs. Again, it just highlights how unfair the system is.WATKINS:And so you've done this in a pretty close investigation of practices in a collection of counties in Washington state. And I definitely saw it in the work that I did in my book, that it impacted peoples ability to find housingsecure, safe housingto get access to vehicles or loans, things like that. You can look for results from that work, funded by Arnold Ventures, within the next year or so. Now, the misdemeanor and the traffic tickets are a different issue, because many times, those people aren't going to jail or prison and have these other punishment options. Alexes Harris, the second guest of the episode, is a professor of sociology at the University of Washington and the author of the 2016 book, A Pound of Flesh: Monetary Sanctions as Punishment for the Poor, a detailed study of fines and fees practices in Washington State. It is no longer constitutional to execute a person for theft, for example, because this punishment fell out of usage for this crime a long time ago, and the punishments that have replaced it are far less severe. Harris is gratified by the surge in attention the issue has been receiving, but worries not enough peoplewhether among legal professionals or the general publicappreciate the "layers of punishment" low-income defendants are being subjected to. LFOs lead to financial constraint especially because of cost increases with interest. If they're determined to be indigent, and I select that category on the calculator, it will automatically lock out cost. See also Press Release, U.S. Dept of Justice, Justice Department Announces Findings of Two Civil Rights Investigations in Ferguson, Missouri (Mar. These are fees on top of the base charges, and they range from 0 to 83 percent. The meaning is that the upper class (rich) can afford to pay the fine, and will often continue to do the illegal behavior. For example, Abraham Holmes argued that Congress might repeat the abuses of that diabolical institution, the Inquisition, and start imposing torture on those convicted of federal crimes: They are nowhere restrained from inventing the most cruel and unheard-of punishments, and annexing them to crimes; and there is no constitutional check on them, but that racks and gibbets may be amongst the most mild instruments of their discipline. Patrick Henry asserted, even more pointedly than Holmes, that the lack of a prohibition of cruel and unusual punishments meant that Congress could use punishment as a tool of oppression: Congress . The system knowsthey." Progressive perspectives on the Eighth Amendment insist that evolving standards of decency must shape and inform the Supreme Courts application of the Eighth Amendment. Across the US, almost half a million presumptively innocent people sit in jail daily because they cannot afford bail. Many timesagain, this is a problematic system, because in part, we have a population that has a host of issuesmany times, people won't go to court because they're fearful they will be incarcerated. You can be charged for your daily stay in a jail or prison. . The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Washington recently settled a case with a county that had some of the most egregious LFO practices, and the Washington State Supreme Court has issued helpful decisions to be cited. She is a professor of sociology at the University of Washington and the author of the 2016 book, A Pound of Flesh: Monetary Sanctions as Punishment for the Poor. Originalists object to this approach for many reasons, including the fact that it is inconsistent with democratic principles and the rule of law. That sort of standard varies from judge to judge, in terms of how it's interpreted. In some cases, there's mandatory LFOs that we must impose, and we look at this person, we look at their history, and do we think that that's going to be able to be paid? E.B. And then, how much are you generating to put back into your local government?" When I did the math for her, she was stunned. So the state of Washington, in 2015, generated $30 million, which sounds like a lot, but on the average $30 per open account annual payment. And we have some leaders that are making changes. Dueling had a long history in the United States; in fact, Hamiltons son had died in a duel a few years earlier. She is currently heading up a multi-year research project comparing those practices across eight states. Share this via Telegram Allen recognized restitution as something that needed to be imposed. WATKINS:I mean, I think you've given us a really good sense of the complexity of these laws that would escape any one person's comprehension. Explicit evidence, such as messages and memoranda, established that the court was operating as a revenue generator, to the point that police shifts, changes in employment, and decisions relating to the enforcement of laws were made from the perspective of increasing revenue. If fines are supposed to have anything to do with making a person experience consequences for their crime, whether retributive consequences or rehabilitative consequences, then punishments are failing their stated purpose and being applied grossly unequally. Research shows clearly that the chance of being caught is a vastly more effective deterrent than even draconian punishment. . This approach begs complex questions, such as who decides what is decent and what is cruel? It just slowly becomes a permanent punishment. There has to be a better balance struck between making the victim and community whole again without putting a terrible burden on the offender. Restitution for victim compensation. . Feierman shared that E.B. Dueling continued in the United States until the mid-19th century. The Illinois report recommends the following five core principles: Courts should be funded from general government revenue, not user taxes. The penalties for poverty faced by the dispossessed peasantry during the formative period of the capitalist mode of production - flogging, branding, mutilation, slavery, execution - were brutal by our standards. Thanks for listening. These fines range from an undefined amount (Delaware) to $500,000 (Kansas). The system of monetary sanctions reinforces our two-tiered system of justice: one for people with financial means and one for people without. Laws implementing restitution create barriers. If we have a death penalty that is applied in a racially discriminatory manner, where the race of the victim shapes who gets the death penalty and who does not; if we have a death penalty that is imposed not on the rich and guilty but on the poor and innocent; if we execute people with methods that are torturous and inhumane, then we have a death penalty that violates the Eighth Amendment. She is a professor of sociology at the University of Washington and the author of the 2016 book from the Russell Sage foundation: A Pound of Flesh: Monetary Sanctions as Punishment for the Poor. We know in general, the people who make contact with our systems of justice, particularly in the superior courts at the felony level, tend to be unemployed, underemployed, low-economic groups, have mental health issues, and drug and alcohol addiction. That means they're collecting this money from people who have no money, and a number of people across the state to generate $30 million. And that is the amount of money that is supposed to be directly paid towards my victim. There are laws, as in Washington, that require collection of restitution before any other LFO. Six children were among the dead after a Russian missile attack on Uman; Russian soldiers are likely being placed in improvised cells consisting of holes in the ground as punishment, the UK's MoD . And if you do, how many packs are you smoking a month?" The framers of the American Constitution should be celebrated for creating a prohibition on punishments which are cruel and unusual; but it is incumbent on all of us to insist on a Court that applies the prohibition fairly, sensibly and justly for an evolving nation. Examples are 4.75 percent interest (Florida), 7 percent interest (Georgia), 12 percent interest (Washington), a 15 percent penalty on unpaid balances and a 30 percent collection fee (Illinois), and a 19 percent collection fee for delinquent payments and a $35 fee (Arizona). Many court systems rely on this money to fund their own operations, and often contract private collection agencies. WATKINS:That was Washington State municipal court judge Linda Edmonds. A famous piece of literature? Burr ran for governor of New York and Hamilton widely considered the most influential founding father of the United States opposed his candidacy, making public remarks that Burr found insulting. In advance of the special rapporteurs report, CJPP and Human Rights Watch submitted testimony to him describing how fees and fines and money bail create a two-tiered system of justice and keep people trapped in poverty. WATKINS:That's a recent law, right? It is common for courts to find a violation because the defendant couldnt pay costs. First is the fine associated with any convictionif its a felony, that can easily be upwards of $1,000, and thats in addition to any time in jail or prison. may introduce the practice of France, Spain, and Germany of torturing, to extort a confession of the crime. This has already occurred with respect to some once-traditional applications of the death penalty. He notes that this is a perfect way to ensure that the poor, unable to pay their debts, are also unable to earn a living that might have helped to pay the outstanding debt.. . dominant punishment for petty offenses and economic crimes.8 Today, fines are often the sole or primary form of punishment . He cites the common practice of suspending drivers licenses when people fail to pay their criminal justice debt. And some, the ones that I've interviewed in Washington, there was a split. The maximum fine allowed in both magistrates' courts and the Crown Court is unlimited (the maximum in magistrates' court for offences committed before 12 March 2015 is 5,000). So there's several layers of punishment, and in addition to that, they have a felony conviction with a host of collateral consequences. So, there is this inherent creation of the money that is being collected through the courts as being viewed as revenue, and so that creates this difficult dynamic and pressure, whether it's sometimes explicit from the legislative branch of the government or whether it's implicit. I didnt want her to see her son being in the situation he was in. If it fell out of usage for multiple generations, however, it might become cruel and unusual. At the webinar, Nick Allen delved into this last bucket of restitution LFOs and the issues they present. . The Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution states: "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.". This has led to an increase in fees assessed across the country and more aggressive collection tactics, including time in jail. As these debates demonstrate, the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause clearly prohibits barbaric methods of punishment. Examples are drug and alcohol, general, mental health, and DNAa wide variety. One of the most serious problems was that the court issued municipal arrest warrants for missed appearances. A lot of people don't realize that. LFOs create family stress and relationship strains affecting children. According to Feierman, the JLC found that the problem is widespread and highly problematic. The report outlines the types of costs imposed: Court costs (27 states). This free CLE webinar, Criminalizing Poverty: Debtors Prison in the 21st Century, was presented by the American Bar Association Commission on Homelessness & Poverty, Section of State and Local Government Law, Criminal Justice Section, Section of Litigation Childrens Rights Litigation Committee, and the Center for Professional Development. WATKINS:But do you think there is a proper, I guess more contained role for legal financial obligations within the system? Here are suggestions of what you can do to make a difference on these issues: Watch the Criminalizing Poverty webinar, available at no cost, and reach out to the speakers. In 1983, the high court ruled judges can't jail people because they're too poor to pay their fines and fees. In order to really figure this out, we have to have jurisdictions that are willing to open their books and help us understand, "How much are you really recovering? Yeah, so that runs counter to all of our notions - a lot of this runs counter to our notions of justice!WATKINS:Paying for a public defender, for example.HARRIS:Exactly. The best way to understand this is to run through those four questions once again, using our new understanding of the original meaning of the Clause: (1) The appropriate benchmark for determining whether a punishment is cruel and unusual is neither the subjective feelings of the current Supreme Court nor the outdated standards of 1791. Expungement (13 states). Ferguson court revenues increased tremendously from $1.38 million in 2010 to the budgeted $3.09 million in 2015 that the city was on track to meet before Michael Brown was shot. In one of our counties, you pay $450 for a court appointed attorney. Washington. The state courts denied his petition for habeas corpus. Money bail also creates pressure on the poor who want to return home to plead guilty, leaving them with a criminal record solely because they could not afford bail, research has found, though Alston did not address this aspect in his report. Lifelong ties to the system. Spotlight on Restitution LFOs . COBURN:Yes, absolutely. What is the origin of the quote "If the penalty for a crime is a fine, then that law only exists for the lower class."? . I completely agree with the sentiment but I have no clue where the quote originated from. WATKINS:We always hear this phrase "fines and fees" together. Sanctions include a warrant, time in jail, and the like. On June 20, 2016, a distinguished panel of experts discussed how fines, fees, and costs in our justice system are criminalizing poverty by burying people unable to pay under ever-growing mountains of debt and imposing on the poor more severe punishments for failure to pay. But there are a few buckets; so the first bucket is restitution, and that's a financial sentence that people are given after conviction. . It's time to renew your membership and keep access to free CLE, valuable publications and more. Living with and talking about mental illness in an open, honest way to help break down stigma. Its a detailed study of fines and fees practices in Washington State. . In this respect, the Eighth Amendment does not merely prohibit barbaric punishments; it also bars disproportionate penalties. So I argue that we don't need an additional fine or fee at the felony level for individuals. Fines and fees are capturing millions of Americans in a cycle of poverty and justice-involvement, and today well talk to two people, who are both working to lessen their impact. A much talked about best practice is the concept of day fines, which is like a sentencing grid, so the amount of the LFO is proportionate to the offense and what the defendant is able to pay. The Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause is the most important and controversial part of the Eighth Amendment. To understand their approach, let us revisit the four questions raised in the joint statement concerning the settled history and meaning of the Eighth Amendment: (1) What standard should the Court use in deciding whether a punishment is unconstitutionally cruel? No, and it's not always because it's out of being stubborn or willful, but out of the facts and circumstances of their case: the long term mental health issues that they have, the substance abuse issues that they're struggling with and trying to deal with, the fact that they're homeless and they have no place to live or struggling to figure out when their next meal is. Since flogging, branding, and various forms of bodily mutilation were permissible in the Eighteenth Century, few modern forms of punishment are likely to fall into this category. Dr. Harris has also found other courts nationally that are more restorative and allow people to pay off their debt by attending programs that lead to better reintegration into their community. The Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution states: Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. This amendment prohibits the federal government from imposing unduly harsh penalties on criminal defendants, either as the price for obtaining pretrial release or as punishment for crime after conviction. If a legislature then tries to reintroduce it, courts should compare how harsh it is relative to those punishment practices that are still part of our tradition. Challenge these practices in the courtroom when fines are imposed, especially when discretionary. Neither he nor his mother could afford to pay the fine. WATKINS:You've talked about how when you were a public defender and perhaps when you started out as a judge, you didn't have a full appreciation of the impact of fines and fees. Keywords: litigation, childrens rights, legal financial obligations, court fines, restitution, interest, juvenile court. There is not time or space here to answer all these questions, but the essays that follow will demonstrate differing ways of approaching several of them. Fall behind on your payments, and you're liable to be hit with interest and more fees. WATKINS:You're able to integrate into it a given person's financial ability?COBURN:Yes, so if somebody comes before me and they tell me that they're, for example, on state assistance. . Examples are a mandatory $500 victim penalty assessment per felony (Washington), a $100 fee per felony (Washington), a $100 criminal cost fee (Indiana), a $193 felony docket fee (Kansas), and a $300 jury trial fee (Maine). It argues that the Constitution should be interpreted in accordance with its original public meaning, and it demonstrates what effect such an interpretation would have in the real world.
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