Rss@dailykos.com (thandisizwe Chimurenga) · Monday, March 14, 2016, 9:17 pm
What the hell is going on with all these folks who have to be reminded to do what they’re supposed to do? In today’s episode of “Stop Doing That,” the Department of Justice has sent a letter to courts in municipalities across the U.S. reminding them not to go against the Constitution. They’re also being reminded not to ignore rulings from the Supreme Court. That’s the short of it. The long of it is that the Justice Department is reiterating that courthouses should be centers of justice and not revenue—and that sending people to jail for failure to pay fines and/or fees is not cool.
The letter reiterates that courts shouldn’t jail people who don’t pay fines and fees levied by the court without first determining whether they are able to pay. It says that courts should also consider options for those who can’t afford to pay the fines and fees that don’t include jail time. The letter mentions money bail schemes that result in poor people being jailed “solely because they cannot afford to pay for their release,” and condemns the use of arrest warrants or drivers license suspensions as a way to coerce people into paying. Those tactics make it more likely that the poor will be arrested, fined, and jailed simply because they couldn’t afford what they were charged with in the first place — while also making it likely they will miss work and fall further behind on payments.
In some places, the letter notes, defendants can’t even start a judicial hearing until their debts are cleared, an “unconstitutional practice” that is “often framed as a routine administrative matter.” The letter also warns against the practice of using private companies to enforce debt collection or probation, allowing them to profit from discretionary fines tacked on top of what defendants owe courts.
Locking people up because they can’t pay fines or fees—effectively putting them into debtors prisons—used to be a thing but it has been ruled unconstitutional. Still, ThinkProgress reports that the practice has seen a resurgence in the last few years. The list of hardships that cascade upon individuals is daunting: More and more debt; repeated incarceration; loss of employment; and more.
The DOJ has also said it will provide funding via grants to those courts that want to change their evil ways and “test strategies to restructure the assessment and enforcement of fines and fees.”
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