fines are only a punishment for the poorchemical that dissolves human feces in pit toilet
Share this via LinkedIn But once we get beyond these areas of agreement, there are many areas of passionate disagreement concerning the meaning and application of the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause: First and foremost, what standard should the Court use in deciding whether a punishment is unconstitutionally cruel? 2.1K Followers. In either case, and times when people come to courtand I've seen this in the courts I've observedif they respond to that summons, they go to court and say, "I don't have money." These tools often lack transparency and are subject to political manipulation, which raises serious due process concerns, he says. E.B. No provision of the Constitution enshrines this principle more clearly than the Eighth Amendment. E.B. The defendant avoids formal processing, but if the defendant cant pay the fee, he or she is formally processed. Thanks for listening. American Bar Association It was really nice to talk with you.WATKINS:That was Alexes Harris. Where there is no ability to pay, there is no way to complete restitution. Bains urged us to review and use the DOJ Dear Colleague letter, which provides specific information on the legal challenges available (e.g., due process, equal protection), alternatives to incarceration, access to a hearing, notice and right to counsel, warrants, license suspension, bail practices, and responsibilities of court staff and private contractors. In phone surveys conducted by Pew Research Center between 1996 and 2020, the share of U.S. adults who favor the death penalty fell from 78% to 52%, while the share of Americans expressing opposition rose from 18% to 44%. Then, within each of these layers of legal debt, there are types or buckets of LFOs. PDF FINES, FEES, AND BAIL - whitehouse.gov 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. Poverty and excessive legal punishments contribute significantly to the . I mean, beyond the perverse incentive that provides a justice system, how profitable is that?HARRIS:There's no fiscal accounting system that allows one, like myself, to dig in and really map out where that money goes. Justices Scalia and Thomas argue that the four questions raised above should be answered as follows: (1) The standards of cruelty that prevailed in 1791, the year the Eighth Amendment was adopted, provide the appropriate benchmark for determining whether a punishment is cruel and unusual. LFOs do not expire in Washington for felony convictions, which means that people can be brought back into the system, cannot vacate their record, or recover their full civil rights until their LFOs are paid in full. It's time to renew your membership and keep access to free CLE, valuable publications and more. I began our interview by asking Professor Harris whether there are generalizations we can make about the kinds of people most often being subjected to fines and fees.Alexes HARRIS:Definitely. You can look for results from that work, funded by Arnold Ventures, within the next year or so. And for poor people, they have to express it every month for the rest of their lives? Legal debt is usually substantial in relation to expected earnings. Explore our new 15-unit high school curriculum. Football News and Latest Updates | Football News | Sky Sports The state courts denied his petition for habeas corpus. So even one policy maker I interviewed said that, "The system allows for people to every month make a payment and then express their remorse." On March 4, 2015, the DOJ released a report on its investigation into the police department, which included an analysis of the Ferguson Municipal Court and fees assessed because, unlike in other jurisdictions, in Ferguson the police essentially exercised supervision over the courts. For example, the court clerk reported to the police chief, and the court was physically located within the police department. WATKINS:But do you think there is a proper, I guess more contained role for legal financial obligations within the system? In his report, he says that the criminal justice system is effectively a system for keeping the poor in poverty while generating revenue. He is scheduled to present his findings to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on June 22, 2018. In other counties, anyone who owed any debt would regularly have warrants put out for their arrest, and they'd be incarcerated for up to 60 days.WATKINS:So it's not uncommon, then, for people to end up in jail for being unable to meet their debts, in this case, a debt to the court system?HARRIS:No, it's not uncommon at all. One of the clients had LFOs from three different convictions in the early 2000s. Washington. This is what our taxpayer money actually should go towards in the criminal justice system, but fees are for people who go through the court. It argues that the Constitution should be interpreted in accordance with its original public meaning, and it demonstrates what effect such an interpretation would have in the real world. Im Matt Watkins. Proponents of the death penalty argue that some people have committed such atrocious crimes that they deserve death, and that the death penalty may deter others from committing atrocious crimes. These fines range from an undefined amount (Delaware) to $500,000 (Kansas). Bains shared best practices gathered by the DOJ and learned from Ferguson: ensure policing and court enforcement are not driven by revenue but by public safety, consider a comprehensive amnesty program to forgive cases and warrants before a certain date, eliminate unnecessary fees, define warrant practices to comply with due process, increase court transparency, and work closely with judges because many of them are willing to speak out and take action. 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. told JLC that after being in jail, he couldnt see himself as a good kid again. It is unfathomable to us today that those who drafted our nations charter nonetheless accepted human slavery, denied women equal treatment and the right to vote, and violently removed Native Americans from their land in what many historians now characterize as genocide. There must be a relationship between an assessment and access to the courts because, if we keep increasing assessments, we could be impeding access and creating a barrier to reentry. And so other judges, and prosecutors, and clerks, felt that this was a system of accountabilitythis is another way, from a paternalistic standpoint, that individuals can be held accountable and show that they're remorseful for their crime. Harris is gratified by the surge in attention the issue has been receiving, but worries not enough peoplewhether among legal professionals or the general publicappreciate the "layers of punishment" low-income defendants are being subjected to. WATKINS:That's a recent law, right? And then, how much are you generating to put back into your local government?" I didnt want her to see her son being in the situation he was in. The United States Supreme Court in Bearden v. If it fell out of usage for multiple generations, however, it might become cruel and unusual. The DOJ reached a federal consent decree entered on April 19, 2016. To counter that, she has helped develop an online "ability-to-pay" calculator. Our director of design is Samiha Amin Meah. It also allows a judge to enter in a defendant's financial information, so that people are not being set amounts that will trail them for years. Im Matt Watkins. Fines and fees are capturing millions of Americans in a cycle of poverty and justice-involvement, and on this episode of New Thinking, host Matt Watkins talks to two people working to interrupt that cycle. When somebody's before me and I'm sentencing them, I should consider their charge, their criminal history, what are the facts and circumstances of the case, their financial situation, and their ability to pay and determine what is just and fair. NIJ's "Five Things About Deterrence" summarizes a large body of research related to deterrence of crime into five points. These consequences are especially problematic for people who are unable to pay: Interest penalty. Dollar Tree . In some cases, there's mandatory LFOs that we must impose, and we look at this person, we look at their history, and do we think that that's going to be able to be paid? He/him/his. Its a detailed study of fines and fees practices in Washington State. And then you go to the window, and discover that it's four times higher and eight years later, it's X number of times higher than that.HARRIS:So individuals are shocked when they get their bills, and seeing it balloon. We have executed more than 1400 people during the same time period. Today's penalties are far less severe: fines, community penalties, imprisonment. And I definitely saw it in the work that I did in my book, that it impacted peoples ability to find housingsecure, safe housingto get access to vehicles or loans, things like that. It costs the police departments about $65 a day to keep someone in jail for not paying their fines. And that's why they're making contact with the systems of justice in the first place.WATKINS:So the system is using the fines and fees, to some extent, to fund itself. If a once-traditional punishment falls out of usage for several generations, it becomes unusual. Ukraine war latest: Strike on Black Sea fleet 'God's punishment shared: I didnt want [my mom] to see me the way I was looking. All rights reserved. Not only do we lead in poverty, but our conditions of impoverishment are incredibly damaging. 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. Please give now to support our work. Share information so court actors and others understand their obligations. 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. Some states, such as Ohio and Washington, have issued bench cards outlining what is mandatory and what is discretionary. If a given punishment has been continuously used for a very long time, this is powerful evidence that multiple generations of Americans have considered it reasonable and just. 371 (2021). A life sentence for a parking violation, for example, would not violate the Constitution. Surcharges for court and non-court-related costs. Opponents of the Constitution feared that this new power would allow Congress to use cruel punishments as a tool for oppressing the people. What I shouldn't consider is, "Well, I need to make sure that my clerk gets paid. In his report, he says that "the criminal justice system is effectively a system for keeping the poor in poverty while generating revenue.". Can you waive it? Neither the Constitutions Framers nor the document they created was flawless. Across the US, almost half a million presumptively innocent people sit in jail daily because they cannot afford bail. We had a case a while back local to me, where a ni. They have enough punishment at that level. So when I was doing my research, I saw judges ask about women's manicures. See Press Release, U.S. Dept of Justice, Fact Sheet on White House and Justice Department ConveningA Cycle of Incarceration, Imprisonment, and Debt (Dec. 3, 2015). Washington, with the 1783 bill, now set a standard for indigents, in particularly with regards to mental illness that people cannot have discretionary fees imposed. (4) Some new punishment practices, such as lethal injection or long-term solitary confinement, appear to pose a risk of excessive physical or mental pain. It will prohibit me from selecting them, because by law in Washington, we are prohibited from imposing costs on defendants who are indigent. And I'm hoping our courts will start to suss out, "What are the criteria for what excessive means?" Fines are intended to deter crime, punish offenders, and compensate victims for losses. I don't think that any one major decision makerso a clerk, a prosecutor, a judge, a public defenderreally understands the enormity of the system of monetary sanctions. Oftentimes that's the word that's used "They know I'm unemployed." nor be deprived of life . Metro's fare evasion fines unpaid in Virginia - The Washington Post So we've always had fines associated with our criminal justice system since its inception, but this is a more recent phenomenon, that it seems that our policy makers have been saying, Oh, we can't afford what we're doing. The best way to understand this is to run through those four questions once again, using our new understanding of the original meaning of the Clause: (1) The appropriate benchmark for determining whether a punishment is cruel and unusual is neither the subjective feelings of the current Supreme Court nor the outdated standards of 1791. In 2020, Equifax was made to pay further settlements relating to the breach: $7.75 million (plus $2 million in legal fees) to financial institutions in the US plus $18.2 million and $19.5 million . The lower class (poor) are the real subjects of the law. The penalties for poverty faced by the dispossessed peasantry during the formative period of the capitalist mode of production - flogging, branding, mutilation, slavery, execution - were brutal by our standards. 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. 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. It is common for courts to find a violation because the defendant couldnt pay costs. The calculation is as follows: if the average cost to jurisdic- tions to collect criminal fees and fines is at least $0.34 for every $1 collected, and if it costs the IRS only $0.034 to collect a dollar of federal tax revenue, then the jurisdiction cost minus the IRS cost is $0.3366, or 99 percent of the IRS cost the percentage of wasted resources. In this respect, the Eighth Amendment does not merely prohibit barbaric punishments; it also bars disproportionate penalties. They might have to attend victim's classes, they might have electronic home monitoring. Rather than providing support to the poor, U.S. social policies appear designed to punish and . 4, 2015). Restitution is the money owed to victims by offenders to compensate for the offenders actions. So we're digging into this now. Link couldn't be copied to clipboard! If the federal government tried to bring back the rack, or thumbscrews, or gibbets as instruments of punishment, such efforts would pretty clearly violate the Eighth Amendment. As our notions of fairness, equality, and justice have evolved, so too must our interpretation of the Constitution. If a legislature then tries to reintroduce it, courts should compare how harsh it is relative to those punishment practices that are still part of our tradition. Many timesagain, this is a problematic system, because in part, we have a population that has a host of issuesmany times, people won't go to court because they're fearful they will be incarcerated. The different LFOs and penalties assessed by juvenile justice systems across the country are forcing young people and their families to go deeper into debt and become further entrenched in the court system with devastating results, as in the case of E.B. 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. COBURN:Yes. Deductions ordered by the court or the Department of Corrections. JLC found that the practices were widespread. . There needs to be a nexus between an assessment and its rationale. US: Criminal Justice System Fuels Poverty Cycle This has been new thinking from the Center for Court Innovation. . 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. In Ferguson, African Americans were 68 percent less likely to have their cases dismissed, more likely to have cases last longer and have more court encounters, and 50 percent more likely to have an arrest warrant issued against them. You're charged a booking fee, you're charged when you're put on probation. The 19th Amendment: How Women Won the Vote. But others would see the several $100 fine as being a huge amount and a severe punishment. A $500 fine for one person is not the same harshness for another person. So if I'm speeding and I know I'm going to get a ticket, and I get that ticket, I might not speed again, because I don't want to pay that fine. 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. Fines (44 states). An error occurred while subscribing your email address. In other words, they weren't completely destitute, but they were barely making ends meet. For example, it would be cruel and unusual to impose a life sentence for a parking violation, but not for murder. There's $200 in Washington for just paperwork and processing.WATKINS:Yeah, I was just going to say, I was really struck by that one, because you know, reformers often refer to something informally called "the trial penalty," which is this notion that the system punishes you for not taking a plea deal, but forcing them to give you an expensive trial. A cumulated disadvantage is generatedaccessing food, housing, employment, and medication, and avoidance of police and other institutions. COBURN:Yes, it is. The court has no discretion to consider the defendants ability to pay when setting restitution, emphasized Allen. In response to the non-originalist approach to the Constitution, some judges and scholars most prominently Justices Scalia and Thomas have argued for a very narrow approach to original meaning that is almost willfully indifferent to current societal needs. 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. This website is funded in whole or in part through a grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The legitimacy of a punishment must be assessed instead by evaluating whether it serves an appropriate and acceptable penological purpose. She is a professor of sociology at the University of Washington and the author of the 2016 book from the Russell Sage foundation: A Pound of Flesh: Monetary Sanctions as Punishment for the Poor. 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. Having the data gives you the numbers and the power to put behind a movement to change how the system works. 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. But I can't pay these fines and fees and interest. For wealthy people, they can express it and pay it, right? The meaning is that the upper class (rich) can afford to pay the fine, and will often continue to do the illegal behavior. Provide advice to individuals about LFOs, as Columbia Legal Services has done. WATKINS:And what did you make of this recent, unanimous Supreme Court decision holding that the Constitution's prohibition on excessive fines applied to the ability of state and local governments to levy fines and fees? Court systems often contract private collection agencies whowait for italso bill you for their work. Though Texas law provides only for fines for such offenses, it requires that persons unable to pay must be incarcerated for sufficient time to satisfy their fines, at the rate of $5 per day, which, in petitioner's case, meant an 85-day term. Do you see that as having a significant impact?HARRIS:Oh, I'm hopeful it will have a significant impact. Court clerks and superior courts can charge an annual collection fee of $100 per year. Technical support is from the resonant Bill Harkins. You have to pay to apply to have a public defender. 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? And they may think that's it and don't necessarily recognize that it's going to balloon. There has to be a better balance struck between making the victim and community whole again without putting a terrible burden on the offender. If anything all fines should be based on a portion of income. Alston also condemned the US practice of enforcing criminal laws against people who lack housing for conduct directly related to their situation, like sleeping in public places. Work with community groups to educate the public. Twenty-five percent of his income is taken out, so he cant cover basic living expenses. Fines and Fees Are Inherently Unjust | Current Affairs WATKINS:Yeah, from that perspective, it also seems hopeful that the issue of fines and fees appears to be getting a lot more attention of latein media coverage, and public discourse, and I think from criminal justice reformers as well. For example, Chief Justice Earl Warren once famously wrote that the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause should draw its meaning from the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society. Trop v. Dulles (1958). So judges and prosecutors are, in some spacesI'm not saying in every courtbut in some spaces, the way that they're interpreting willful nonpayment is their own personal judgment on what people should be using their resources for. Some Supreme Court justices believe it is the Courts responsibility to make these decisions independently, because a punishment may be cruel and unusual even if it is popular among the general public and even if a legislature has deemed it appropriate. Within a society riven by so much inequality, a system of punishment based on economic resources can never be fair or just. A Crime With a Fine is a Crime Only for the Poor - Medium Keywords: litigation, childrens rights, legal financial obligations, court fines, restitution, interest, juvenile court. At the webinar, Nick Allen delved into this last bucket of restitution LFOs and the issues they present. Expungement (13 states). So it just seems like a very fruitless endeavorgetting blood from stones, or drawing blood from stones. . And so I'm hoping this can help us create more momentum to talk about these key issues, and thinking through how, if we really want to be a just society like we claim we are, how can we hold people who violate the law accountable in a way in which they can meet that accountability, repent, and move forward with their lives to be productive and successful, happy citizens? Challenge these practices in the courtroom when fines are imposed, especially when discretionary. Start your constitutional learning journey. He cites the common practice of suspending drivers licenses when people fail to pay their criminal justice debt. What is the origin of the quote "If the penalty for a crime is a fine That was a very big change in the law. (3) The Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause does not prohibit the death penalty, because capital punishment was permissible in 1791, and because the text of the Constitution mentions the death penalty. I aint got no money, so I might as well just go and sit it out. No lawyer or family member was present at the hearing, and the judge imposed a three-month sentence in a secure facility. Dueling continued in the United States until the mid-19th century. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Washington recently settled a case with a county that had some of the most egregious LFO practices, and the Washington State Supreme Court has issued helpful decisions to be cited. Collection costs and interest on unpaid balances. Lifelong ties to the system. On December 3, the DOJ and the White House cosponsored an event on these issues. A best practice identified by Dr. Harriss research is a practice by a judge in Washington who gives credit and reduces a persons debt if the person receives a General Educational Development certificate. These fines range from an undefined amount (Delaware) to $500,000 (Kansas). In some jurisdictions, this could mean that restitution has to be collected first per case. And both of those are supposed to be punitive, related to your punishment. For progressives, this is an unacceptably high rate of error: The probability that an innocent person has been or will be executed offends our standards of decency, and renders the death penalty cruel and unusual punishment that violates the Eighth Amendment. 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? 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.
