Court Policies Punish The Poor by Travis Loller
For years, state and city officials in the U.S. — unwilling to raise taxes — have
steadily increased their reliance on court fines and fees to balance budgets.
Poor defendants who can't pay are jailed, clogging local lockups with people
who in many cases have not been convicted of any crime and putting others
on a probation that doesn't end until all debts are erased.
A growing number of legal groups and nonprofit organizations throughout the
U.S. are challenging these practices, but they continue — despite a 1983 U.S.
Supreme Court decision that found it unconstitutional to incarcerate defendants
too poor to pay fines.
In Oklahoma, for example, the Washington-based Civil Rights Corps, which
has litigated more than 20 lawsuits since it was founded in 2016 to undo various
aspects of "user-funded justice," is challenging policies that it claims have led to
one of the highest incarceration rates in the world.
Counties across the state of Oklahoma refer debt collection to a for-profit
company, Aberdeen Enterprizes II, which adds an additional 30 percent fee
and threatens debtors with arrest. Many of those who can't pay are not just
thrown in jail; they're also made to pay for their incarceration, further increasing
their debt.
