Jeff Sessions has endorsed an unconstitutional fine on the poor (WP)

[dalton99a]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/jeff-sessions-just-endorsed-an-unconstitutional-fine-on-the-poor/2018/01/09/87ccffc6-f268-11e7-97bf-bba379b809ab_story.html
Jeff Sessions has endorsed an unconstitutional fine on the poor
By Lisa Foster January 9 at 3:23 PM

Lisa Foster is a retired California Superior Court judge, co-director of the Fines and Fees Justice Center and former director of the Office for Access to Justice in the Justice Department.

Lorenzo Brown, a 58-year-old disabled resident of Montgomery, Ala., was arrested at his boardinghouse in 2014 for failure to pay fines and fees imposed for traffic tickets. Brown, whose sole source of income was a Social Security disability check, was kept in jail for three days before he was brought to court. There, the judge told him he could be released if he paid $1,400 — half of what he owed and twice the amount of his monthly disability check. Because he didn’t have that much money, the judge sentenced him to serve 44 days in jail, repaying his debt at the rate of $50 per day.

Brown is not alone. Across the country, millions of people — including children — are charged a fine as punishment for traffic, misdemeanor and felony offenses and then taxed with fees used to fund the justice system and other government services. In California, the fine for running a stop sign is $100, but the additional fees — imposed to pay for everything from court operations to emergency medical services — can raise the total cost of the ticket to a staggering $490.

It’s a tax on justice that harms poor people of all races and people of color disproportionately, entrenching poverty and undermining confidence in our justice system. Yet the Justice Department under Attorney General Jeff Sessions retracted two important legal guidances last month that were intended to help courts reform abusive practices.

The decision is unconscionable. As was the case with Brown, fines and fees are often enforced in ways that blatantly violate the Constitution. People who cannot afford to immediately pay the full amount charged face additional fees, suspension of their driver’s and vocational licenses, loss of voting rights and, far too frequently, arrest and jail. Since 1983, however, the Supreme Court has held that it is unconstitutional to punish a person “solely because he lacks funds to pay a fine.”

[underpants]

1. Big revenue generator in Ferguson MO those fines

Just saying

[tblue37]

2. K&R for visibility. nt

[Frustratedlady]

3. Is this a way to finance private jails and prisons?

This sounds like the old poor houses. Everything is happening so fast, it is hard to keep up.

For a little fart, he sure is tearing through his agenda.

[Stryst]

11. Most private prisons

have occupancy contracts with the state's they're in. The state often has to promise as high as 98% occupancy or pay massive (multi million dollar) fines to these private companies. It's getting harder to cram them full of pot smokers, so now it's poor folks who jaywalk.

[ProudLib72]

4. Modern day debtor's prison

ACLU link to article: https://www.aclu.org/issues/racial-justice/race-and-criminal-justice/debtors-prisons

Nearly two centuries ago, the United States formally abolished the incarceration of people who failed to pay off debts. Yet, recent years have witnessed the rise of modern-day debtors' prisons—the arrest and jailing of poor people for failure to pay legal debts they can never hope to afford, through criminal justice procedures that violate their most basic rights.

The ACLU and ACLU affiliates across the country have been exposing and challenging modern-day debtors' prisons across the country.

[enough]

5. Evil. NT

[Phoenix61]

6. It is a huge problem

You get a ticket because your tag is expired because you don't have the money to get it renewed. By the time the snowball gets done rolling you've lost your job and your apartment. Complete and total BS.

[Tanuki]

7. Peter Edelman was interviewed re: his book "It's Not a Crime to be Poor"

on NPR. This type of thing is abhorrent and all too common.
(Edelman is the husband of Childrens' Defense Fund founder Marian Wright Edelman, for those who may not know).

[Angry Dragon]

8. KICK

[spanone]

9. debtor's prison

[smirkymonkey]

10. What the fuck is wrong with that little troll?

He is just getting worse every day. I can't even say what I want to happen to him.

[tclambert]

12. "Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?"

"Those who are badly off must go there."
"Many can't go there; and many would rather die."
"If they would rather die," said Scrooge, "they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population."

[cstanleytech]

13. The fine system needs to be changed to a % of a persons gross income before taxes in this country.

[Kirk Lover]

14. Hasn't this always been the case? If you are late paying the ticket fines start getting

added. Well it's always been like that in NY unless I'm missing something here. And then of course if you don't pay they'll tow your car which is expensive.

[politicaljunkie41910]

17. My understanding of the case is that when you get say a $100 ticket, a bunch of fees are tacked on

to it and it could result in several hundred dollars worth of fees on top of the fine to pay for other government services. In this particular case, since the guy couldn't afford to pay his ticket, he got jail time plus they took away his vocation license, (sounds like something he would need to work) and they suspended his license all things that he will have to pay to get back on top of the original fine and jail time served. Being a resident of California, I don't get tickets that often, but I do recall that it is a series of fees that can add up quickly (pretty much you're financing the cost of the entire law enforcement system.) According to the Judge mentioned in the OP, the Judge is saying that punishing people for being poor is against the law.

But as I recall, it was the same thing in Virginia when I was there on assignment several years ago. Their highways and roads are full of traffic cops. I got a ticket and there was a slew of fees attached. I just wanted to hurry up and get out of there so you don't invite trouble.

[Kirk Lover]

18. When you got that ticket were the fees attached right away or only after you were late? n/t

[politicaljunkie41910]

19. When you get a ticket, you aren't told the amount of the fine at the time. You receive that later

in the mail, and it is usually some odd amount and depending on the jurisdiction, they may or may not provide a breakdown of the fees. But usually if you call and ask about it, they will give you a breakdown and you'll find out that it's a bunch of add on fees to pay for the cost of keeping the lights on in the court house, etc. In essence you're paying a prorata share for the cost of everything related to the ticket. i.e the Court house that processes the ticket, the court rooms, the clerks you pay the fees to, the Balliff, etc. It's a series of add on fees as a percentage of the basic fine. But then I live in California where everything costs a lot so you get use to it fast.

[Kirk Lover]

20. That is RIDICULOUS. n/t

[MarcA]

15. When sessions trump et al are put in someone's jail

let them pay millions of $$$ in fines Immediately. If not, then millions $$$
in fees. They can then spend the rest of their useless lives in prison.
The private goon prison industry should love the money they would get from this.

[Maraya1969]

16. K & R I question what is the psychological makeup of people who create such

hardship for others.

My first thought is they are making money from it. Maybe, like in Ferguson they really were making money off of the poor people.

But what is in their heads and hearts that they could do such things???

[arthritisR_US]

22. Sociopathy comes to mind.

[arthritisR_US]

21. Jeff Sessions motto Jim Crow at Your Service.