fines are only a punishment for the poor

A defendant often owes, for example, $3,000 in restitution but can only afford to pay $10 per month. Defendants are sometimes required to pay a fee to expunge their records; other times, they are not allowed to seek expungement until they have paid off other costs. Alston also addresses the money bail system, used in almost every US state, which requires people to pay to secure their release from jail prior to trial. This amendment prohibits the federal government from imposing unduly harsh penalties on criminal defendants, either as the price for . It just makes no sense intuitively whatsoever in terms of generating money for local jurisdictions, and in terms of creating public safety, and in terms of supporting individuals who have done a wrong to society, have paid their sentence, in terms of spending time in jails and prisons, and having that conviction on their record, not allowing them to move forward in their lives to be successful citizens. 2.1K Followers. 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. It costs the police departments about $65 a day to keep someone in jail for not paying their fines. Fines (44 states). They don't teach you about LFOs in law school, but I think if you're relying on the attorneys to always get it right, I think what's going to happen is that there will be incidents where nobody gets it right. The court has no discretion to consider the defendants ability to pay when setting restitution, emphasized Allen. A $500 fine for one person is not the same harshness for another person. Theres a link to the ability-to-pay calculator she helped design on our website. These practices appear to have evolved from governments desire to reduce taxation to support criminal justice in favor of increasing fines and fees for offenders. He/him/his. So there's a direct relationship to how this debt can impact negatively people's ability to access employment. So it just seems like a very fruitless endeavorgetting blood from stones, or drawing blood from stones. We do know some things about the history of the phrase cruel and unusual punishments. In 1689 a full century before the ratification of the United States Constitution England adopted a Bill of Rights that prohibited cruell and unusuall punishments. In 1776, George Mason included a prohibition of cruel and unusual punishments in the Declaration of Rights he drafted for the Commonwealth of Virginia. They also point out that the punishment is authorized in a majority of states, and public opinion polls continue to show broad support for it. 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 . And that's another conversation we need to start having. Conduct more research or coordinate with someone who can conduct more research. 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). Only 278 of the 1,306 fare evasion citations handled by the Arlington, Fairfax and Alexandria general district courts between July 1, 2017, and June 30, 2019, were paid, according to court. Since the modern era of capital punishment in the United States began in the 1970s, 154 people have been proven innocent after being sentenced to death. Lumped together are a large number of costs: for example, paying for the cost of incarceration, GPS, and monitoring. I would say yes, I think I have been less inclined to, previously where I think I imposed $200 inclusive, and then let the clerks break down what that represents. After Hamiltons death, many religious leaders began arguing for the abolition of dueling the way some people now seek the abolition of the death penalty. 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. And if you do, how many packs are you smoking a month?" 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. 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? 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. Even the US most widely used alternative to money bail concerns Alston, who warns that pretrial risk assessment tools that rely on formulas may replicate existing societal racial and class biases, but project a false veneer of objectivity. Spotlight on the Juvenile Justice System These individuals included lawyers, other professionals, family members, and young people with experience in the juvenile justice system. As Dr. Harris outlined at the beginning of the program, one of the four systems of justice in which LFOs are imposed is the juvenile justice system. Fines may either supplement imprisonment or probation, or they may be the sole punishment. I also am excited to see, in both Ginsburgs and Thomas's decisions, that they linked excessive forfeitures with the Black Codes and convict leasing programs. 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. The DOJ found disparate impact motivated by racial bias. And then my question is, "How long do people have to express their remorse for what they've done?" A cumulated disadvantage is generatedaccessing food, housing, employment, and medication, and avoidance of police and other institutions. COBURN:Yes, absolutely. Shes come up with an innovative solution to the problem of fines and fees, or as she calls them LFOs, and that stands for legal financial obligationsand please remember that acronym. Smaller things, not just court and post, but other ways that the justice system is profiting off of individuals. It just slowly becomes a permanent punishment for people who are poor in our society.WATKINS:Yeah, I've seen, I think, the family of a young man who was assessed with all kinds of fines and fees describe it as, "Feeling like you're drowning in a swimming pool, and they just keep adding more water over top of your head. Like, regardless of what you say, everybody knows the dollar amounts you are collecting is going into a fund that therefore is going to pay for the courts.WATKINS:Well, I take it you're saying that the fact that jurisdictions are using fines and fees to fund their own operations certainly has the potential to set up a kind of perverse incentive to go out there and try to gather more fines and fees. (4) Are some modern methods of punishment such as the extended use of solitary confinement, or the use of a three-drug cocktail to execute offenders sufficiently barbaric to violate the Eighth Amendment? These fines range from an undefined amount (Delaware) to $500,000 (Kansas). In recent years, some judges and scholars have argued that the meaning of the Constitution should change as societal values change. told JLC that after being in jail, he couldnt see himself as a good kid again. What does it mean for a punishment to be cruel and unusual? If they're determined to be indigent, and I select that category on the calculator, it will automatically lock out cost. 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. Thus, you must scale the amounts so that the punishment is equal and of the same harshness. COBURN:And I would say in some regards, I don't think that they're necessarily naive of sometimes it's going to take him a long time to pay, but I do think the education is not just being educated on the ramifications of the long-term effects, but literally being educated on what the law is, really understanding what the LFO is, and whether you have authority to impose it or not, or reduce it or waive it, or whether you even prohibited from imposing it to begin with. Fees are user fees, user costs, to use the court system. One item that is missing is national, systematic court data that would allow us to assess who is being sentenced, who is paying what, and what is the amount outstanding. I challenge you to find any municipal or county clerk that can detail this out for you, because I don't think the local jurisdictions know what's happening.WATKINS:I mean, it stands to reason that if you're trying to collect money from a lot of people who don't have very much to begin with, you're probably going to spend a fair bit going after them and not get much in return, no?HARRIS:Right, and I don't have the numbers right in front of me, but the average payment amounts are very little: under $30 per open account annually, in many jurisdictions in the state of Washington. Thanks for listening. Receive important updates about our work transforming the justice system. They might have to attend victim's classes, they might have electronic home monitoring. Recent Findings and Emerging Best Practices: Illinois; Ferguson, Missouri; Washington Next, Hirsch shared that they tried to take a step back and did a schoolhouse rockwho touches how an assessment becomes law? They found all the different stakeholders that were involved in the process. by John F. Stinneford. Lifelong ties to the system. It is hard for us now to understand how the Framers of our Constitution could embrace such a misguided and barbaric practice. The Laura and John Arnold Foundation is committed to funding ongoing research involving primarily an eight-state (California, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Texas, and Washington), five-year study of monetary sanctions led by Dr. Harris, which is currently in the first year. One of the clients had LFOs from three different convictions in the early 2000s. Court-imposed user fees for processing. Within each of those LFOs: Is it mandatory? 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. The program was moderated by Lourdes Rosado, chief of the Civil Rights Bureau of the New York State Office of the Attorney General, and prominently featured the following panelists: Alexes Harris, associate professor, Department of Sociology, University of Washington, Chiraag Bains, senior counsel to the assistant attorney general, U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Jessica Feierman, associate director, Juvenile Law Center, Danielle Elyce Hirsch, assistant director of the Civil Justice Division, Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts, Nick Allen, staff attorney, Columbia Legal Services. Share this via Telegram I literally was in a hearing and saw a judge ask a woman about her tattoos. Join our movement today. In one of our counties, you pay $450 for a court appointed attorney. Propose policy and legislative change. crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury . 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. Evaluation and testing (31 states). That sort of standard varies from judge to judge, in terms of how it's interpreted. carceration, is on the upswing: in 1991, only a tenth of felons 8 Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law 61 (Simon & Schuster 2d ed 1985 . 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. 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. I think we need to sincerely start from scratch and think through and map out all of the fiscal barriers for individuals that prolong their punishment and re-create a system that allows people to be treated as human, that allows them to be successful and not have these financial hurdles for the rest of their lives.WATKINS:Well, that sounds like a pretty admirable goal. My own research into the original meaning of the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause shows that Justice Scalias and Thomass approach has a fatal flaw: It ignores the meaning of the word unusual. Their decision to ignore this word makes sense because there seems to be no connection between a punishments rarity and its cruelty. "I think people are still just using a different color crayon to color within the lines, and we're not yet erasing the lines," Harris explains. The first LFO was for $1,600 and is now close to $3,500 because of interest. These directly create a two-tier system of justice by punishing those who are unable to pay with additional costs such as interest and penalties. Non-legal factors (such as gender, race, and ethnicity) significantly influence the amount of LFO imposed. These tools often lack transparency and are subject to political manipulation, which raises serious due process concerns, he says. Dueling continued in the United States until the mid-19th century. He did not see it as a punishment. Illinois. . Other ways to share Best practices and ideas on how to change our restitution system are emerging from across the country, and they include taking into account the persons ability to pay, allowing for conversion of restitution to community service, looking to more restorative justice approaches, imposing restitution rather than other fines, imposing statutes of limitations on restitution, allowing for modification of restitution, and making it a civil collection and taking it out of the criminal and juvenile justice systems. And then, how much are you generating to put back into your local government?" And it's proportionate to the offense, in terms of the severity of the offense, and it's proportionate to what the offender can pay. . So, if there are three cases, the victim in the third case will not receive restitution until the first two cases are paid off. . All rights reserved. . "We need to sincerely start from scratch and think through all of the fiscal barriers for individuals that prolong their punishment.". Professor Harris is currently heading up a multi-year research project comparing those practices in eight states. . This approach begs complex questions, such as who decides what is decent and what is cruel? So I argue that we don't need an additional fine or fee at the felony level for individuals. Fall behind on your payments, and you're liable to be hit with interest and more fees. Phone surveys conducted by Gallup found a similar decrease in support for capital punishment during this time span. Government . 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. He describes how cities are jailing or fining the poorest people for offenses rooted in their homeless status, saying he observed aggressive enforcement of this kind in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Today, dueling is deemed unconscionable. But every month, it just gets bigger and bigger." And so even though you had clients who want to please the court and say, "I can make payments of $50 a month or $25 a month," you don't necessarily really understand in their circumstances what they're giving up in order to do that, or how long it's going to take them to actually pay off the LFOs and what implications that that may mean.WATKINS: What would you say then that you are understanding now better, and how did you come to that understanding? In response to a growing national concern over LFO issues, the DOJ convened, on December 2, 2015, a diverse group of court administrators, judges, lawmakers, affected individuals, and others. There has to be a better balance struck between making the victim and community whole again without putting a terrible burden on the offender. However, other judges felt that this was part of breaking the law, that you do the time, you pay the crime, whatever it is. American Bar Association Should it exercise its own moral judgment, irrespective of whether it is supported by societal consensus? I can tell you, nobody can do that. This show is edited and produced by me, you can find me on Twitter @didacticmatt, if you have any feedback to share. The defendant avoids formal processing, but if the defendant cant pay the fee, he or she is formally processed. And then their average daily wage is another score, and those two numbers are then multiplied, and so that number, what that gives us, is the fiscal amount that they're sentenced to. One of the most significant of these new powers was the power to create federal crimes and to punish those who committed them.
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