Posted on 03/14/2016 4:16:03 AM PDT by Olog-hai
The Justice Department is discouraging state court systems from jailing defendants who fail to pay fines or fees, warning against practices that it says run afoul of the Constitution and erode community trust.
A letter being sent Monday by the federal government to state court administrators makes clear that judges should consider alternatives to jail for poor defendants who don’t pay their fines. It also says defendants should not be locked up without a judge first establishing that a defendant who failed to pay did so willfully. […]
The new guidance comes amid concerns that some local courts are effectively punishing poor people for their poverty by imposing crippling fines and fees that, when unpaid, can result in jail time. That practice was exposed last year in a scathing federal report on the Ferguson, Missouri city government in which the Justice Department concluded that the municipal court prioritized revenue over safety and routinely issued arrest warrants to residents who had failed to pay fines for petty offenses. …
(Excerpt) Read more at bigstory.ap.org ...
How about some ‘crippling jail time’ for Hillary Rodham Crook?
Get outta jail free card.
Gee, Wally—How many of these defendants who fail to pay fines or fees do you think are Black and/or Democrat?
Why bother paying taxes then? If you get to some level of stupidity....it’s just one more step to say community distrust involves taxes as well.
If this bothers the justice department so much....just get rid of the silly laws and skip congress. Invalid the laws affected and just cruise on.
"fine (fīn) n. 1. A sum of money required to be paid especially to the government as a penalty for an offense."
Why impose it if it is not going to be required to be paid. In other words your offense wasn't illegal to start so it OK for you and others to continue to do it.
Obama wants his protesters released.
Translation, “minorities shouldn’t have to pay fines”.
Petty offenses are really about raising revenue.
And do you really want to have cops use scarce jail space to lock up people who are no real threat to society?
We should get rid of that blight on the justice system.
Jail time for all offences with not option for fines?
5 mph over will give you 5 hours in jail? Is this the end game? Should help reduce the profitability of the speed trap.
A judge should establish if someone was hurt or killed before proceeding to punishment.
If the answer is no, dismiss the case.
Oh. So “the poor” (democrat welfare (er, voters)) get a “new right”? to further scam the taxpaying remainder of the population?
The various governments coercing money out of people is a pet peeve of mine. (I’ve got a little sleeping area and special food for it.) Apparently the topic is beginning to gain attention for the first time I’ve seen. The article addresses arresting people who haven’t paid their fines. The problem is they are trying to determine if they “willfully” haven’t paid them or they just can’t afford them. I think the whole concept of what we get fined (punished) for needs a second look. They don’t address whether the jail time served is in lieu of the fine or they simply keep you there until you cough up the money. That can be a long time and when does the concept that you can’t send people to jail without a trail come into play? Also, isn’t taking somebody’s license (and thus their livelihood) also count as house arrest?
Similar to this was the woman they sent to prison (prison, mind you, not jail) because her teenage son repeatedly skipped school. This too was a revenue issue, not a criminal issue. The woman was murdered while in prison. How can anybody justify putting otherwise law abiding citizens in dire danger like jail or prison when they have done nothing criminally wrong?
Notice there is two million dollars set aside to “study” the issue. Yeah, I’ll bet they’ll “study” real hard. Probably at multiple golfing getaways.
Not the DOJ’s jurisdiction.
And that’s aside from the constitutionality of the DOJ.
Notwithstanding, I and others seem to be able to not commit even these petty offenses.
Now we’re going to have a progessive law enforcement too? We did that with taxes now with criminal punishment?
around his neck is a metal ornamental dodad of some sort
I watched all the episodes of the Tudors and all the3 guys wore something similar. Does any one know what they are?
Funny how it’s an authoritarian DOJ that is “looking” at them, and in response to Ferguson’s non-issues.
Because I call for the DoJ to their job to prosecute Hillary, I am FOR giving the welfare leeches a ‘new right’?
Absurd. I neither said or implied anything of the sort.
There should be some real punishment in lieu of a fine....... work
pay the fine or work it out collecting hiway trash or washing county cars
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