^ While constitutional carve-outs for fraud will capture some debtors, it cant plausibly lower the protections of the ban to the level of Bearden: the failure to search for a job or to seek credit is hardly fraudulent. The ACLU and ACLU affiliates across the country have been exposing and challenging modern-day debtors' prisons across the country. State and local courts have increasingly attempted to supplement their funding by charging fees to people convicted of crimes, including fees for public defenders, prosecutors, court administration, jail operation, and probation supervision. . At the same time, however, legal commentators have been concerned about imprisonment for criminal debt since at least the 1960s. $95/year. . ^ See, e.g., City of Danville v. Hartshorn, 292 N.E.2d 382, 384 (Ill. 1973) (describing violations of municipal ordinances as quasi-criminal in character [but] civil in form (quoting City of Decatur v. Chasteen, 166 N.E.2d 29, 39 (Ill. 1960))). ^ Despite its strong language, the Massachusetts statute functioned this way: the indigent debtor was required to appear in court before receiving a discharge. ^ See infra notes 10315 and accompanying text. See id. 575, 576 (Fla. 1939); Roach v. Oliver, 244 N.W. How debt can lead to prison - Vox Read More. once we encounter involuntary manslaughter, other crimes of negligence, and various statutory offenses). . And debtor's prisons added a nice touch -- not only were you forced to pay your debt, but you were also forced to pay your prison fees. ^ Id. I, 17; Wis. Const. See J.C. Thomson, Imprisonment for Debt in the United States, 1 Jurid. See State v. Thierfelder, 495 N.W.2d 669, 673 (Wis. 1993); see also Wis. Stat. L. Rev. art. ^ See, e.g., Sarah Dolisca Bellacicco, Note, Safe Haven No Longer: The Role of Georgia Courts and Private Probation Companies in Sustaining a De Facto Debtors Prison System, 48 Ga. L. Rev. 522, 525 (Fla. 1926); Plapinger v. State, 120 S.E.2d 609, 611 (Ga. 1961); Boyer v. Kinnick, 57 N.W. The lawsuit challenges the countys practice of generating revenue by forcing manual labor on, threatening jail, and jailing indigent people who are unable to afford to pay fines, fees, costs, and restitution imposed by the county on criminal defendants. ^ E.g., S.D. (called for should hyperlink to. The practice was partially abolished federally in 1839. ^ See, e.g., Human Rights Watch, Profiting from Probation 45 (2014), https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/us0214_ForUpload_0.pdf [http://perma.cc/Y8BN-GVZ2]; Karakatsanis, supra note 3, at 262. New York released prisoners owing less than $25 in 1818, doubled this threshold in 1825, and abolished imprisonment for debt in 1831. The Court identified some of those limits in a pair of equal protection cases in the 1970s: James v. Strange75 and Fuller v. Oregon.76, The debtor in James v. Strange owed $500 to pay for a court-appointed attorney and challenged the Kansas recoupment statute under which the state had attempted to recover the money.77 The Court struck down the recoupment statute because it failed to provide any of the exemptions provided by [the Kansas Code of Civil Procedure]. art. They are still generally accepted as such in this country. Jerome Hall, Prolegomena to a Science of Criminal Law, 89 U. Pa. L. Rev. The statewide lawsuit was filed on behalf of drivers who have had their drivers licenses suspended in violation of their statutory, due process, and equal protection rights. What is the history of debtors prisons in the United States? Yet Hall was critiquing a blind adherence to mens rea as a ubiquitous doctrine in criminal law. And in Ferguson, Mo., simmering anger with the police and court system has given rise to a pair of lawsuits aimed at the local practice of imprisoning indigent debtors. XIII; Class Action Complaint at 5758, Jenkins v. City of Jennings, No. 2:13-cv-00732 (M.D. The result is one of the most draconian debtors prisons uncovered by the ACLU since 2010. Stat. . At an initial pass, states with cases affirming this rule include the following: Utah, see In re Clifts Estate, 159 P.2d 872, 876 (Utah 1945), Missouri, see State ex rel. I, 5. ^ Cf., e.g., Kimble v. Marvel Entmt, LLC, 135 S. Ct. 2401, 241011 (2015) (identifying the ero[sion] of statutory and doctrinal underpinnings, id. This section advances arguments from text, purpose, and original meaning, which in many cases converge on this result. Perhaps this pushback will resolve the concerns described above. amend. 1965). 558.006 by Act effective Jan. 1, 2017, 2014 Mo. Imprisonment for Debt | NCpedia amend. In 2013, the ACLU of Michigan, the Brennan Center for Justice, and the Michigan State Planning Body filedan amicus briefin a debtors' prison case before the Michigan Court of Appeals, urging the issuance of guidance to lower courts to prevent debtors' prison practices. The history of the United States is intertwined with debt and immigrants. See id. Louisianas Debtors Prisons: An Appeal to Justice, https://www.aclumaine.org/en/news/prison-being-poor-time-end-debtors-prison-system-maine, https://www.aclu.org/news/aclu-maine-calls-legislature-end-debtors-prisons, filed lawsuits challenging "pay or stay" sentences, 2015, the ACLU of Maine called for an end to practices that result in the jailing of indigent people who cannot afford to pay court fines and fees. Indeed, federal constitutional law may compel an answer on this point. Debtors' Prisons, Then and Now: FAQ | The Marshall Project See Act of July 9, 2015, 2015 Mo. Accessibility, A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Books, The Collapse of American Criminal Justice, Investigation of the Ferguson Police Department, Criminal Justice Debt: A Barrier to Reentry, In for a Penny: The Rise of Americas New Debtors Prisons, Office of Judicial Servs., Supreme Court of Ohio, Collection of Fines and Court Costs in Adult Trial Courts, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/18/us/suit-alleges-scheme-in-criminal-costs-borne-by-new-orleanss-poor.html, http://aclu-wa.org/sites/default/files/attachments/Modern%20Day%20Debtor%27s%20Prison%20Final%20(3).pdf, http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/06/23/get-out-of-jail-inc, http://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/downloads/case/amended_complaint-_harriet_cleveland_0.pdf, http://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/downloads/case/exhibit_a_to_joint_settlement_agreement_-_judicial_procedures-_140912.pdf, http://equaljusticeunderlaw.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Complaint-Jennings-Debtors-Prisons-FILE-STAMPED.pdf, http://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/opa/press-releases/attachments/2015/03/04/ferguson_police_department_report.pdf, https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/us0214_ForUpload_0.pdf, http://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/legacy/Fees%20and%20Fines%20FINAL.pdf, https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2455850/15-10-09-class-action-complaint-stamped.pdf, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/20/us/for-offenders-who-cant-pay-its-a-pint-of-blood-or-jail-time.html. The statute seems to have provided for a Bearden-like inquiry: [N]o convicted person may be held in contempt for failure to repay if he shows that his default was not attributable to an intentional refusal to obey the order of the court or to a failure on his part to make a good faith effort to make the payment. See, e.g., Lea Shepard, Creditors Contempt, 2011 BYU L. Rev. Starting with the text, twenty-two state bans refer to debt or debtor without drawing further distinctions between different kinds of debts,125 and theres no textual reason why such words should exclude monetary obligations triggered by statutorily regulated conduct and owed to the state.126 Indeed, the presence of such qualifying language in the other bans127 strongly suggests that the words debt and debtor werent inherently limited to commercial life as a matter of the original meaning of the text just as they arent today. milestone in the process of abolitionin the state of New York and throughout the United States. The Twelve Tables, the oldest codification of Roman law we have, permitted its usage in 451 B.C. http://www.npr.org/2014/05/24/314866421/measures-aimed-at-keeping-people-out-of-jail-punish-the-poor. ^ The Missouri legislation, for example, seems to constrain municipal collection of criminal justice debt within certain domains. art. Debtors' Prison Relief Act of 1792 - Wikipedia ^ Monsanto Co. v. Geertson Seed Farms, 130 S. Ct. 2743, 2761 (2010). (citing Commonwealth v. Nichols, 92 Mass. . Const. art. ^ See, e.g., Lee v. State, 75 Ala. 29, 30 (1883); Mosley v. Mayor of Gallatin, 78 Tenn. 494, 497 (1882). 754, 75657 (Ohio 1925). The case was brought on behalf of Kevin Thompson, a black teenager in DeKalb County, Georgia. Instead of a test that asks whether the debtor has sought employment or credit per Bearden, in some states there would be a limited inquiry into whether the debtor possessed specific, nonexempt property that the debtor could be ordered to turn over. Many judges, including J. Scott Vowell, a circuit court judge in Alabama, felt pressured to make their courts financially self-sufficient, by using the threat of jail time established in those statutes to squeeze cash out of small-time debtors. ^ It may also be worth pointing out that James and Fuller dealt most concretely with attorneys fees. Ala. Nov. 17, 2014) [hereinafter Settlement Agreement, Mitchell v. Montgomery], http://equaljusticeunderlaw.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Final-Settlement-Agreement.pdf [http://perma.cc/R8S9-HW4N]. . Eventually, federal debtors' prisons were abolished in 1833, leaving the power to implement debtors' prisons in the hands of the states, many of which followed Washington's lead. Rev. Underlying the debts is a range of crimes, violations, and infractions, including shoplifting, domestic violence, prostitution, and traffic violations.27 The monetary obligations come under a mix of labels, including fines, fees, costs, and interest, and are generally imposed either at sentencing or as a condition of parole.28 Arrest warrants are sometimes issued when debtors fail to appear in court to account for their debts, but courts often fail to give debtors notice of summons, and many debtors avoid the courts out of fear of imprisonment.29 When courts have actually held the ability-to-pay hearings required by Bearden30 and theyve often neglected to do so31 such hearings have been extremely short, as many misdemeanor cases are disposed of in a matter of minutes.32 Debtors are almost never provided with legal counsel.33 The total amount due fluctuates with payments and added fees, sometimes wildly, and debtors are often unaware at any given point of the amount they need to pay to avoid incarceration or to be released from jail.34 Multiple municipalities have allowed debtors to pay down their debts by laboring as janitors or on a penal farm.35 One Alabama judge credited debtors $100 for giving blood.36, The problem is widespread. On this understanding of the law, debtor protections co-vary quite straightforwardly with the states interest in collecting. Def., Office of the State Pub. Copyright 1887-2023 Harvard Law Review. Others assert that certain prison conditions arguably violate the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause or the Thirteenth Amendments prohibition on involuntary servitude. II, 13; Or. To start, state debtor protections would not merely duplicate the federal ones. The law implements the recommendations of Maines Intergovernmental Pretrial Justice Reform Task Force, which was convened in 2015 to make recommendations to lessen the human and financial cost of keeping so many people in jail who dont need to be there. 556.061(29)) (defining infraction). The question was, how? Another type of legal claim should be considered alongside Bearden: one based on the many state constitutional bans on debtors prisons.24 These state bans were enacted over several decades in the first half of the nineteenth century, as a backlash against imprisonment for commercial debt swept the nation. ^ See Bannon et al., supra note 34, at 6. Did the United States abolished debtors prisons in 1929? I, 17; Ariz. Const. 479.353(2) (West, Westlaw through 2015 Veto Sess.)) The first is that judges may incarcerate debtors who fail to show up at debt-related proceedings. ^ This carve-out can be found in the state bans of Michigan, New Jersey, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. (prohibiting confinement for traffic violations except in enumerated situations). ^ A more complete history would undoubtedly be helpful, but remains outside the scope of this Note. Victims are told they can avoid jail only if they pay the entire amount of outstanding court fines and fees up front, in full, and in cash. . In July 2015, the ACLU of Michigan filed a motion asking the McComb County Circuit Court to take superintendent control over the courtroom of Judge Carl Gerds, who regularly imposes illegal pay or stay sentences on indigent men and women appearing before him.
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