Post by duke on Feb 12, 2013 14:48:16 GMT -5
Feb 11, 2013 3:18 PM UTC
Miss a traffic ticket, go to jail?
Debtor prisons, once a relic of the 18th century, are making a frightening comeback in the U.S. justice system
By Alex Kane
Editor's note: America has a long history of treating the poor like criminals, from legislation banning the transportation of poor people across state lines to anti-vagrancy laws that could land you in jail if you didn't have a job or a home. We've come to rely on the criminal justice system to deal with the poor, even as more and more Americans fall into poverty. The following is part of a series that looks at the diverse ways poverty is criminalized in America, such as laws targeting the homeless, the surveillance of welfare recipients, the re-emergence of debtor's prisons, and extreme policing tactics like stop-and-frisk.
Kawana Young, a single mother of two kids, was arrested in Michigan after failing to pay money she owed as a result of minor traffic offenses. She was recently laid off from her job, and could not pay the fees she owed because she couldn't find another source of employment. So a judge sentenced her to three days in jail. In addition, Young was charged additional fees for being booked and for room and board for a place she did not want to be. In total, she has been jailed five times for being unable to pay her debts.
'It doesn't make sense to jail people when they can't pay because they definitely can't pay while they're in jail,' said Young.Debtor prisons seem to belong in America's past. But if you think the existence of prisons for people who can't afford to pay their debts in the past, think again. Young's ordeal, profiled in an American Civil Liberties Union report, began in 2005, after she was ticketed because she was driving without her license. It all came to a head in 2010, when Young was arrested because she did not pay off all of her debts from traffic violations. That arrest led to the judge ordering Young to jail due to her inability to pay off the money. <snip>
www.salon.com/2013/02/11/miss_a_traffic_ticket_go_to_jail/
Miss a traffic ticket, go to jail?
Debtor prisons, once a relic of the 18th century, are making a frightening comeback in the U.S. justice system
By Alex Kane
Editor's note: America has a long history of treating the poor like criminals, from legislation banning the transportation of poor people across state lines to anti-vagrancy laws that could land you in jail if you didn't have a job or a home. We've come to rely on the criminal justice system to deal with the poor, even as more and more Americans fall into poverty. The following is part of a series that looks at the diverse ways poverty is criminalized in America, such as laws targeting the homeless, the surveillance of welfare recipients, the re-emergence of debtor's prisons, and extreme policing tactics like stop-and-frisk.
Kawana Young, a single mother of two kids, was arrested in Michigan after failing to pay money she owed as a result of minor traffic offenses. She was recently laid off from her job, and could not pay the fees she owed because she couldn't find another source of employment. So a judge sentenced her to three days in jail. In addition, Young was charged additional fees for being booked and for room and board for a place she did not want to be. In total, she has been jailed five times for being unable to pay her debts.
'It doesn't make sense to jail people when they can't pay because they definitely can't pay while they're in jail,' said Young.Debtor prisons seem to belong in America's past. But if you think the existence of prisons for people who can't afford to pay their debts in the past, think again. Young's ordeal, profiled in an American Civil Liberties Union report, began in 2005, after she was ticketed because she was driving without her license. It all came to a head in 2010, when Young was arrested because she did not pay off all of her debts from traffic violations. That arrest led to the judge ordering Young to jail due to her inability to pay off the money. <snip>
www.salon.com/2013/02/11/miss_a_traffic_ticket_go_to_jail/