“Held captive.” It was how one 13-year-old described the feeling of growing up poor in our wealthy nation, and for more and more Americans living in poverty, this feeling isn’t just a metaphor. The recent Department of Justice report on police and court practices in Ferguson, Missouri put a much needed spotlight on how a predatory system of enforcement of minor misdemeanors and compounding fines can trap low-income people in a never-ending cycle of debt, poverty, and jail. In Ferguson this included outrageous fines for minor infractions like failing to show proof of insurance and letting grass and weeds in a yard get too high. In one case a woman who parked her car illegally in 2007 and couldn’t pay the initial $151 fee has since been arrested twice, spent six days in jail, paid $550 to a city court, and as of 2014 still owed the city $541 in fines, all as a result of the unpaid parking ticket. The Department of Justice found each year Ferguson set targets for the police and courts to generate more and more money from municipal fines. And Ferguson isn’t alone. The criminalization of poverty is a growing trend in states and localities across the country.
The investigation of Ferguson’s practices came after the killing of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown by a police officer, and last month the practice of criminalizing poverty made headlines again after Walter Scott was killed in North Charleston, South Carolina. Scott was shot in the back by police officer Michael Slager on April 4 as he ran away after being pulled over for a broken taillight. Scott had already served time in jail for falling behind on child support, and on the day he was stopped there was a warrant out for his arrest for falling behind again. His family believes his fear of going back to jail caused him to run from the broken taillight stop. His brother told The New York Times that Walter Scott already felt trapped: “Every job he has had, he has gotten fired from because he went to jail because he was locked up for child support,” said Rodney Scott, whose brother was most recently working as a forklift operator. “He got to the point where he felt like it defeated the purpose.” A 2009 review of county jails in South Carolina found that 1 in 8 inmates was behind bars for failure to pay child support. Rodney Scott remembered his brother trying to explain to a judge that he simply did not make enough money to pay the amount ordered by the court: “And the judge said something like, ‘That’s your problem. You figure it out.’”
The Institute for Policy Studies recently released a groundbreaking new reporthighlighting the policies and practices that have led to increased criminalization of poverty, and that report and similar studies are finally shining a light on the way some municipalities are criminalizing poor people just for being poor. The United States legally ended the practice of debtor’s prisons in 1833, and the Supreme Court ruled in Bearden v. Georgia (1983) that it is unconstitutional to imprison those who can’t afford to pay their debt or restitution in criminal cases, unless the act of not paying debt or restitution is “willful.” But poor people are being increasingly targeted with fines and fees for misdemeanors and winding up in illegal debtors’ prisons when they can’t pay—and in some cases, then being charged additional fees for court and jail costs. A recent investigation by National Public Radio, the New York University Brennan Center for Justice, and the National Center for State Courts cited a study estimating between 80-85 percent of inmates now leave prison owing debt for court-imposed costs, restitution, fines and fees. In some jurisdictions defendants are charged for their room and board during lockup, probation and parole supervision, drug and alcohol abuse treatment, DNA samples, and even their constitutional right to a public defender. When poor people can’t pay those fees either, the cycle of debt and jail time continues.
The private companies providing probation services in more than half of the states are some of the biggest winners when poor people are targeted. If people on probation can’t afford the fees they are charged, they breach their probation contract; this can result in more jail time, making it even less likely that they’ll be earning the money they need, and people under the supervision of these private probation companies often become liable for charges exceeding the initial cost of their ticket or fine. Federal law also prohibits people in breach of probation from receiving a range of benefits, including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), food stamps, and Supplemental Security Income—once again, exacerbating the cycle of poverty, probation, and prison.
And state and local policies establish barriers that make it more difficult for people who have served any time in prison, including those there because they were poor, to re-integrate into society. According to a study conducted by the American Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section, there are more than 38,000 documented statutes nationwide creating collateral consequences for people with criminal convictions including barriers to housing, employment, voting, and many public benefits. By denying these citizens access to basic services they need to survive, our policies needlessly increase the risk of recidivism and continue to leave people truly trapped—and when we extend the cycle of poverty by criminalizing poor people, there are only a few greedy winners and many, many losers.
"In one case a woman who parked her car illegally in 2007 and couldn’t pay the initial $151 fee has since been arrested twice, spent six days in jail, paid $550 to a city court, and as of 2014 still owed the city $541 in fines, all as a result of the unpaid parking ticket."
ReplyDeleteThis really hit home for me, I have a family member who is only 19, has been in and out of foster care her entire life, has not yet attained her GED, and as a result is constantly criminalized by law enforcement and the penal system. It seems as if no one has a heart to teach, inspire, understand, or uplift her but instead she is stigmatized, judged, and demoralized because of how she looks and where she comes from.
Being poor, black, and underprivileged warrants a dangerous response by law enforcement and those in power. As a teenager she got into an argument with her mother, the police were called and the officer walked up to her and said "your dumb black a** ain't worth a penny, respect your mother or go to jail," she later got a ticket for not having her seat belt on as a passenger of someone elses car, she told the officer that the seat belt was broken and he did not believe her, the fine was over $500, she could not pay it, it turned into a $1500 dollar fine and kept her from getting a driver's license until she turned 22. Unfortunate, unnecessary, unjust.
Things like these do not only happen in Furguson, they happen everywhere, even in seemingly liberal and "post racial" communities like Berkeley CA, where I am from. In order to de-criminalize the poor in the sight of law enforcement and the judicial system it begins with educating people about these systems and how companies profit from poor people's mistakes. I think the only solution to this is education, awareness, and the breaking down of systematic oppression!
Poor people are constantly being punished for being poor. The punishment is a financial issue as well as an ethical issue. I saw a meme that poked fun at the fact that banks charge overdraft fees. It said that apparently people who get them can't even afford to be broke. That came to mind when reading this article. People grow up in poverty stricken places and tend to be financially illiterate so they continue to dig themselves deeper into the well of poverty in which they were born. Then we have people who tend to side with a certain brand of politics who blame those poor people for their issues without ever considering the entirety of the picture.
ReplyDeleteClaricha,
DeleteYou hit the nail on the head with your response. People often laugh at those who are living below the poverty line and their inability to afford what they NEED and things that they want. As a sales associate at Foot Locker, I often see parents come in asking for a shoe less that $40 in kids and men's. The reality is that we rarely have shoes for that price regardless of the size. As a result, parents and children walk out of the store with disappointment and shoes that have 2-3 holes in them. It saddens me every time I see it.
Great Respons.
Say it again Claricha! It's funny to laugh at poverty when you have the privilege to live outside of it. The biggest shame is the disconnect between what we think we know and what we will never know because we don't seek to listen and learn. If we taxes people for ignorance as much as we taxed petty city parking violations, loitering, misdemeanor charges, and the like...we would have more than enough to feed children across the nation. What a waste of money while folks walk around trying to scrape some to just live. SMH
DeleteIndeed Claricha! We often find ourselves on social media seeing things such as said meme and laugh at it because in fact they are mostly their to serve a comedic purpose but people tend to overlook the true intent. This is continuous ignoring of intent and the bigger picture is what I believe continues to cripple our society. We are often quick to judge by face value and rarely take into account the background. There are so many people who face the evils of financial illiteracy and being poor that struggle to find a light because they are being "jumped". So we need to continue to educate not only in the classrooms but also at things such as parent nights. We need to equip our oppressed communities with tools so that they can fight back!
DeleteWell said Claricha! The most thought provoking part of the article for me was reading that being poor is like being "held captive" and learning how collateral consequences of being poor never allow you to get ahead enough to not be poor.
ReplyDeleteThe opening phrase "Held captive" is so telling of the cycle of poverty in the U.S. especially with children and families. I recently learned about the different levels of sociology economic status and the different types of poverty. Generational poverty is the one associated with being cyclical. The metaphor of being held captive, with nowhere to turn describes how poverty can feel in this country. This is unjust because in a society there should be a certain amount of social and economic mobility. Where we lack is having a safety net in place to uplift each other rather than criminalizing poverty. It is something we want to eradicate, but punishing people instead of creating programs, jobs, and strengthening our education system is not the answer. As I read this article, I became increasingly disturbed by how we treat people living in poverty and how this is the foundation for other social injustices such as the events in Ferguson.
ReplyDelete