For poor defendants, minor crimes can lead to devastating debts 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. Oftentimes that's the word that's used "They know I'm unemployed." 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. And both of those are supposed to be punitive, related to your punishment. WATKINS:That's a recent law, right? In some ways, the Clause is shrouded in mystery. Court-imposed user fees for processing. A Pound of Flesh | RSF It is no longer constitutional to execute a person for theft, for example, because this punishment fell out of usage for this crime a long time ago, and the punishments that have replaced it are far less severe. Penalties include point deductions of 75-120 points, deductions of 10-25 playoff points, the suspension of one or two crew members for four-to-six races and fines between $100,000 and $250,000. Dr. Harris has also found other courts nationally that are more restorative and allow people to pay off their debt by attending programs that lead to better reintegration into their community. Technology, such as electronic monitors, aimed at helping defendants avoid jail time is available only to those who can afford to pay for it. Examples are a discretionary $1,000 drug conviction LFO for a first conviction and $2,000 for a second conviction (Washington). Officials can work with impacted populations on everything from parking tickets to payment plans to utility fines and fees. In 1983, the high court ruled judges can't jail people because they're too poor to pay their fines and fees. 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. At that rate, the victim cannot be compensated for 25 years. 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. He cites bail bond corporations, which charge high fees and interest, and private supervision and collection companies, which charge additional fees and often rely on arrest warrants to secure payment. Recent Findings and Emerging Best Practices: Illinois; Ferguson, Missouri; Washington Finally, evolving standards of decency will require the Court to prohibit many modern punishments that didnt exist in the eighteenth century, like solitary confinement or death-in-prison sentences for children or the mentally ill. For progressives, the Constitution must evolve and be interpreted so that the rights of people who are less favored, less protected, and less influential are not sacrificed to serve the interests of the powerful and the popular. Alston also cautions that privatization of the criminal justice system can harm poor people. The DOJ found that the courts were violating the due process and equal protection rights of the people appearing before them. 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? Monetary sanctions reduce family income and create long-term debt. For many, this means it is critical to reject efforts to limit constitutional protections to the original intentions of the flawed men who wrote the Constitution. Share this via Printer. (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. In Washington, this is 12 percent per year from the date of judgment, even during the entire period of incarceration, when a defendant will have a limited source of income. I may be required to impose it. If youve ever had an encounter with the criminal justice system, chances are it came with a price tag. 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. I've seen this quote passed around a lot in recent times through countless memes. Monetary Sanctions as a Pound of Flesh - Brennan Center for Justice Open Privacy Options The lower class (poor) are the real subjects of the law. When the United States Constitution was first ratified by the states, it did not contain a Bill of Rights, and it did not prohibit cruel and unusual punishments. 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. How Do LFOs Affect People Who Are Unable to Pay? It just creates these huge barriers, and it's ironic, because the state policy makers that set these laws, this isn't a collateral consequence. 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. The third LFO started as $1,300 plus interest, which the client could also not afford to pay, so it was turned over to collections, where 50 percent was added to the outstanding balance, as allowed by Washington statute. While the webinar focused on specific examples of these buckets from Illinois, Ferguson, and Washington to demonstrate how the issues play out, Dr. Harris made clear that these fines, fees, and practices exist across the United States. More examples from each state can be found in Dr. Harris book, A Pound of Flesh: Monetary Sanctions as Punishment for the Poor (Russell Sage Found. crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury . Im Matt Watkins. Supreme Court | US Law - LII / Legal Information Institute Burr lost the election, and he blamed Hamilton, so he challenged Hamilton to a duel. Alston endorsed legislation known as The Right to Rest Act, being considered in several western states, which would prevent cities from criminalizing actions by people linked to their lack of housing and force governments to find rights-respecting solutions. . If there is no ability to pay, there is no way to get out from under restitution or any other LFO, which leaves the offender bound to the system, forced into more serious debt, and suffering further from collateral consequences in employment, housing, etc. 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." That means they're collecting this money from people who have no money, and a number of people across the state to generate $30 million. Continue your representation in post-sentencing. You're also doing some more national work. 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. 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. No American leader could credibly support dueling as an acceptable method for resolving conflicts. And we have some leaders that are making changes. And that is the amount of money that is supposed to be directly paid towards my victim. All rights reserved. Court clerks and superior courts can charge an annual collection fee of $100 per year. I think it's very challenging for attorneys and judges out there to be able to understand and remember all the different LFOs for all these different crimes. 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 . See also Press Release, U.S. Dept of Justice, Justice Department Announces Findings of Two Civil Rights Investigations in Ferguson, Missouri (Mar. It sometimes strikes me that it sounds a bit like a rental car agreement, where you get one price that gets you into the deal, and that's the price maybe the judge is quoting you from the bench. Money bail also creates pressure on the poor who want to return home to plead guilty, leaving them with a criminal record solely because they could not afford bail, research has found, though Alston did not address this aspect in his report. Permanent punishment for the poor is what I call it. Examples are garnishment and orders of payroll deduction. Advocates in Washington have used Columbia Legal Services and ACLU reports to push for further reform. And then my question is, "How long do people have to express their remorse for what they've done?" Living in poverty is punishment itself | Centre for Crime and Justice We have executed more than 1400 people during the same time period. I believe that the question whether the death penalty violates the Eighth Amendment cannot be resolved by simply asking whether a person deserves to die for the crime he has committed. Her research looked at national statutes, but the quantitative and qualitative data came from the state of Washington. A defendant cannot be incarcerated unless the failure to pay is willful. But, as Allen noted, the interpretation of concepts like willfulness and indigence are inconsistent, and so this results in indigent people being incarcerated for failure to pay.. The task force issued a report with findings and recommendations for the civil and criminal sides and several different audiences. So it just seems like a very fruitless endeavorgetting blood from stones, or drawing blood from stones. The following are among her findings after eight years of research and interviews: Monetary sanctions are regularly imposed nationally. JLC is finding that LFOs undermine the goal of the juvenile justice system of giving young people a second chance. Conduct more research or coordinate with someone who can conduct more research. 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. LFOs create family stress and relationship strains affecting children. Next up is Alexes Harris. For the sake of simplicity, in this article, we will use the term LFO whenever possible to refer to such fines, fees, and costs. The Big Apple: "If the penalty for a crime is a fine, then the law only And some, the ones that I've interviewed in Washington, there was a split. Share this via Email This saying (not in the original game) was made into a Facebook meme by Leftist Gamer Memes on October 17, 2020. Should it look to some other standard? 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. 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. Collection costs and interest on unpaid balances. So that's restitution, and that's part of your punishment. Share this via Facebook . Bring constitutional challenges and use the DOJs Dear Colleague letter. The United States currently incarcerates 2.2 million people, nearly half of whom are non-violent drug offenders, accused people held pre-trial because they cannot afford their bail, and others who have been arrested for failure to pay debts or fines for minor infractions. 239 likes, 8 comments - Jermaine (@therealblackhistorian) on Instagram: "Not only was colonial Pennsylvania a slave-owning society, but the lives of free blacks in the co . Though Texas law provides only for fines for such offenses, it requires that persons unabe 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. I was one of those suicidal kids you read about. First is the fine associated with any convictionif its a felony, that can easily be upwards of $1,000, and thats in addition to any time in jail or prison. You can look for results from that work, funded by Arnold Ventures, within the next year or so. This has already occurred with respect to some once-traditional applications of the death penalty. This essay concerns the original meaning of the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause. I think for those who are on the extreme end of indigency, that wasn't a problem, but I also represented the working poor. First is the fine associated with a convictionfor a felony, that can easily run upwards of $1,000, and thats in addition to any time in jail or prison. 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 . The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the positions or policies of the American Bar Association, the Section of Litigation, this committee, or the employer(s) of the author(s). If she had known that, she may have revisited what under the law she had the authority to adjust regarding discretionary LFOs, but because she wanted to have the hearing done, move on to the next hearing. So there's several layers of punishment, and in addition to that, they have a felony conviction with a host of collateral consequences. told JLC that after being in jail, he couldnt see himself as a good kid again. When I did the math for her, she was stunned. Share this via Twitter Focusing on the original intentions of Founding Fathers cannot resolve important questions about punishment today. If they're determined to be indigent, and I select that category on the calculator, it will automatically lock out cost. He notes that this is a perfect way to ensure that the poor, unable to pay their debts, are also unable to earn a living that might have helped to pay the outstanding debt.. I believe we must first ask whether we deserve to kill. 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. The 12 biggest data breach fines, penalties, and settlements so far If fines are supposed to have anything to do with making a person experience consequences for their crime, whether retributive consequences or rehabilitative consequences, then punishments are failing their stated purpose and being applied grossly unequally. If a court were to find that their effect is significantly harsher than the longstanding punishment practices they have replaced, it could appropriately find them cruel and unusual. That shouldn't be the case, right? And I'm hoping our courts will start to suss out, "What are the criteria for what excessive means?" As these debates demonstrate, the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause clearly prohibits barbaric methods of punishment. Supreme Court Ruling Not Enough To Prevent Debtors Prisons When you fall behind on those payments, in some jurisdictions youll be hit with interest and surcharges. 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. Today's penalties are far less severe: fines, community penalties, imprisonment. Within a society riven by so much inequality, a system of punishment based on economic resources can never be fair or just. This approach begs complex questions, such as who decides what is decent and what is cruel? The Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution states: Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. This amendment prohibits the federal government from imposing unduly harsh penalties on criminal defendants, either as the price for obtaining pretrial release or as punishment for crime after conviction. 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. An error occurred while subscribing your email address. Government . And in Washington State, that private collection agency can add 50% to that principal. So I argue that we don't need an additional fine or fee at the felony level for individuals. COBURN:I can say that the legislature determines obviously the laws that they pass; that is not my role. JLC is still determining how many states have such a cost. In the wake of a constitutional amendment to provide automatic restoration, the Florida legislature proposed a new system in SB 7066, aimed at . Laws implementing restitution create barriers. For more information about this episode visit our website, thats courtinnovation.org/newthinking. Many courts are struggling to interpret a 1983 Supreme Court ruling protecting defendants from going to jail because they are too poor to pay their fines. And when you cant pay, you could end up in jail. Second, does the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause only prohibit barbaric methods of punishment, or does it also prohibit punishments that are disproportionate to the offense? Other ways to share But in California, eliminating juvenile fines and fees is an amazing step forward in recognizing that people who can't work can't pay back this debt. This does not mean that any punishment that was once part of our tradition can still be used today. E.B. To counter that, she has helped develop an online "ability-to-pay" calculator. 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. This is not considered an LFO, so they collect this fee before paying out on the underlying LFO, including the restitution. One of the most serious problems was that the court issued municipal arrest warrants for missed appearances. Please give now to support our work. . She is currently heading up a multi-year research project comparing those practices across eight states. It makes it very, very difficult for people to be rehabilitated or reintegrated into their communities.WATKINS:Right, you're saddling people with these large debts at the same time that they have a felony conviction, which is preventing them from getting the kind of employment that would allow them to pay the fee.HARRIS: Exactly, and some employers these days are looking at credit scores, right? It is common for courts to find a violation because the defendant couldnt pay costs. If it fell out of usage for multiple generations, however, it might become cruel and unusual. Ooops. Expungement (13 states). Professor Harris, I want to thank you so much for making the time to join us today.HARRIS:Oh, sure. had heard that the fine was $500. 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%. In advance of the special rapporteurs report, CJPP and Human Rights Watch submitted testimony to him describing how fees and fines and money bail create a two-tiered system of justice and keep people trapped in poverty. A Crime With a Fine is a Crime Only for the Poor - Medium In recent years, some judges and scholars have argued that the meaning of the Constitution should change as societal values change. (2) The Clause prohibits only barbaric methods of punishment, not disproportionate punishments. You must have JavaScript enabled to use this form. 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. I literally was in a hearing and saw a judge ask a woman about her tattoos. In 2013, in a city of about 21,000 people, the court issued more than 9,000 municipal arrest warrants relating to cases of minor violations, traffic tickets, and housing code violations. Not only do we lead in poverty, but our conditions of impoverishment are incredibly damaging. State and local governments should initiate reforms to address these problems. Fines Fines, or a sum of money the offender has to pay as punishment for the crime, are generally viewed as the least severe of all possible punishments. But, you know what, for some LFOs, that may not matter. In the United States, many jurisdictions rely on fees and fines for revenue for the criminal justice system and for other programs, said Mitali Nagrecha, director of the National Criminal Justice Debt Initiative at CJPP. 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. Once in collections, a 23 percent interest was added, so that LFO is now over $1,600. The first LFO was for $1,600 and is now close to $3,500 because of interest. Allen recognized restitution as something that needed to be imposed. There should be periodic review of assessments. Neither the Constitutions Framers nor the document they created was flawless. Subscribe to New Thinking on Apple Podcasts, Neighbors in Action: Creating Safer and Healthier Communities, Sixth Amendment Initiative: Strengthening the Constitutional Protections of the Accused, Misdemeanors Matter #2: Alexandra Natapoff on a Legacy of Injustice (, Court Costs Entrap Nonwhite, Poor Juvenile Offenders (. Explore our new 15-unit high school curriculum. Danielle Elyce Hirsch presented the findings of the Illinois Statutory Court Fee Task Force. Jessica Feierman explained how the Juvenile Law Center kept hearing stories from its clients about all the different costs, fines, and fees involved, so the center took the time to do a 50-state statutory review to get a sense of the problem nationally and to look at what can be done. My argument is that local jurisdictions and state jurisdictions just realized that they can't afford the cost of our mass system of criminal justice. Diversion programs (22 states). The meaning is that the upper class (rich) can afford to pay the fine, and will often continue to do the illegal behavior. 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. This understanding of the original meaning of the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause leads to very different results than either the non-originalist approach or Justices Scalias and Thomass approach. For example, it would be cruel and unusual to impose a life sentence for a parking violation, but not for murder. 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." As to how young people perceive these costs, JLC found that E.B. It brings together all of the statutes, possible fines, and opportunities for discretion related to a given charge. Since flogging, branding, and various forms of bodily mutilation were permissible in the Eighteenth Century, few modern forms of punishment are likely to fall into this category. At the webinar, Nick Allen delved into this last bucket of restitution LFOs and the issues they present. Ukraine remains in control of a key supply route into the eastern city of Bakhmut, a military spokesperson has said. In the state of Washington, we are one of the, if not the, lowest, funded court system in the country. 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? So, from one end of the continuum, judges would impose it, at the minimum amounts, and not really incarcerate unless people were not paying for restitution. During this webinar, Bains focused on the findings pertaining to the court. What exactly am I assessing for? He got a job, but the collection agency will not accept less than $200 per month, so he still cannot pay. The state courts denied his petition for habeas corpus. 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. 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 be charged for your daily stay in a jail or prison. How can we decrease the costs? And instead of thinking outside the box and saying, Well, how can we decrease the numbers of people we're bringing in? They're saying, Well, let's just charge the people we're bringing in," without logically thinking that through, and recognizing that they have a population that is severely hindered in their ability to be successful in society. Ukraine war latest: Boy, 6, cries as sister killed in Russian attack