. The investigation revealed that Ferguson law enforcement including both police and the municipal court was deployed to raise revenue.43 In March 2010, the citys finance director emailed thenPolice Chief Thomas Jackson: [U]nless ticket writing ramps up significantly before the end of the year, it will be hard to significantly raise collections next year. The best evidence to date is the Department of Justices 2015 report on the Ferguson Police Department. I, 17; Ariz. Const. Const. Between 1821 and 1849, twelve states followed suit. Finally, violations of monetary obligations that are statutorily defined as civil. Read more. Laws at 457 (codified at Mo. While the United States no longer has brick and mortar debtors' prisons, or "gaols for debtors" of private debts, the term "debtor's prison" in modern times sometimes refers to the practice of imprisoning indigent criminal defendants for matters related to either a fine or a fee imposed in criminal judgments. This Part outlines those limits, which stem from two main lines of cases in the 1970s and early 1980s, and undergird almost all debt-imprisonment litigation today. Code Ann. See, e.g., Derek A. Westen, Comment, Fines, Imprisonment, and the Poor: Thirty Dollars or Thirty Days, 57 Calif. L. Rev. ^ See Settlement Agreement, Mitchell v. Montgomery, supra note 52, at 23. Jailing the indigent for their failure to meet contractual obligations was considered primitive by ancient Greek and Roman politicians, and remains illegal and unheard of in most developed countries. . ^ See Fla. Stat. v. Murgia, 427 U.S. 307, 320 (1976) (Marshall, J., dissenting); San Antonio Indep. We are working in state legislatures and courts, and with judicial officials to end these practices once and for all. App. art. Debt, Imprisonment for | Encyclopedia.com See, e.g., Letter from Mark Silverstein, Legal Dir., ACLU of Colo., and Rebecca T. Wallace, Staff Atty, ACLU of Colo., to Chief Justice Michael Bender, Colo. Supreme Court, and Judge John Dailey, Chair, Criminal Procedure Comm. Other. milestone in the process of abolitionin the state of New York and throughout the United States. I, 15; Ohio Const. The Debtors Act 1869 (32 & 33 Vict. 1312, 1316 (2015). ^ See, e.g., Telephone Interview with Nathan Woodliff-Stanley, Exec. The ACLU Racial Justice Program and allies across the country are bringing lawsuits and advocacy to expose and challenge these practices. The second is to develop an economic theory of debtors' prisons, focusing on . A century and a half later, in 1983, the Supreme Court affirmed that incarcerating indigent debtors was unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection clause. ^ See Class Action Complaint at 13, Bell v. City of Jackson, No. In many jurisdictions, debtors were not freed until they acquired outside funds to pay what they owed, or else worked off the debt through years of penal labor. Courts, however, did make clear that the legislature couldnt criminalize the mere nonpayment of commercial debt as a constitutional workaround. art. I, 19; Kan. Const. 938.29(4) (2015) (specifying that such debtors shall not be denied any of the protections afforded any other civil judgment debtor). ^ See Note, Civil Arrest of Fraudulent Debtors: Toward Limiting the Capias Process, 26 Rutgers L. Rev. Read more. Her crime was a failure to pay the monthly fees mailed to her by a private probation company, called Judicial Correction Services. once we encounter involuntary manslaughter, other crimes of negligence, and various statutory offenses). See Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Books 7172 (Robert Douglas-Fairhurst ed., Oxford Univ. 18; Md. Stat. ^ See Complaint, Fant v. Ferguson, supra note 48, at 3. 1965). Dec. 23, 2014) (en banc), http://www.courts.mo.gov/sup/index.nsf/d45a7635d4bfdb8f8625662000632638/fe656f36d6b518a886257db80081d43c [http://perma.cc/BTX3-4ERC]. This concern is amplified by the growing trend toward outsourcing portions of the criminal justice system, such as collection, to private actors like Sentinel Offender Services, a probation company that wields the threat of imprisonment via contract with the state. Some of these laws the state bans on debtors prisons were enacted over a hundred years ago, but can and should be invoked today.166 The task of operationalizing these bans for a new social evil rests in the hands of litigators and courts. I, 14; Ind. As one might guess, the states have split on whether costs fall within the scope of the bans. art. (Oct. 10, 2012), http://static.aclu-co.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/2012-10-10-Bender-Dailey-Wallace.pdf [http://perma.cc/5F9Y-U7RC]; Letter from Rebecca T. Wallace, Staff Atty, ACLU of Colo., and Mark Silverstein, Legal Dir., ACLU of Colo., to Herb Atchison, Mayor of Westminster, Colo. (Dec. 16, 2013), http://static.aclu-co.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/2013-12-16-Atchison-ACLU.pdf [http://perma.cc/7ZZS-X3RL]. 753, 767 (1943) (citing as generally accepted the maxim that an act does not make one guilty unless the mind is guilty). 357 (1889). But aside from clear policy concerns, they may violate constitutional laws at both the federal and state levels. The issue reached the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1970s, with two cases in which the Court found it unconstitutional to incarcerate people solely because they could not pay a public debt ( Williams v. ^ Naturally, there may be some overlap between this category and the two mentioned above. 754, 75657 (Ohio 1925). Sometimes called legal financial obligations (LFOs), the total debt generally includes a mix of fines, fees, court costs, and interest.5 And unlike civil collection actions (for the most part6), incarceration is very much on the menu of sanctions that the unpaid creditor, usually a municipality,7 can impose. Why have two tests? Rev. They therefore impose the burden of funding the government on those individuals and communities least equipped to bear the weight. Feb. 8, 2015) [hereinafter Complaint, Fant v. Ferguson], http://equaljusticeunderlaw.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Complaint-Ferguson-Debtors-Prison-FILE-STAMPED.pdf [http://perma.cc/MVJ9-Q9CQ]. ^ Cf., e.g., Miss. There are two types: private debt, which may lead to involvement in the criminal justice system, and criminal-justice debt, accrued through involvement in the criminal justice system. Const. I, 11; S.C. Const. art. At this time, the US federal government abolished debtors' prisons, where people had previously been incarcerated . Lanz v. Dowling, 110 So. L. Rev. See Act of July 9, 2015, 2015 Mo. art. The American tradition of debtors imprisonment seems to be alive and well. Most importantly for present purposes, the debts at issue historically were contractual, not criminal. On the same day that it filed the lawsuit, the ACLU of Texas released a report, No Exit, Texas: Modern-Day Debtors Prisons and the Poverty Trap, which details the results of a six-month-long investigation into the enforcement of Class C Misdemeanor fines and fees in Texass Municipal and Justice of the Peace Courts. The ACLU and ACLU affiliates across the country have been exposing and challenging modern-day debtors' prisons across the country. at 135. While such holdings might raise a stare decisis issue in many instances, the risk of deprivations of liberty is high, and the world of criminal justice has changed so dramatically,139 that revisiting precedent might be jurisprudentially sound. Instead, Sanders, who lives in Illinois, was arrested and taken to jail. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2544519, Digital Duplications and the Fourth Amendment, Reconciling State Sovereign Immunity with the Fourteenth Amendment, Suspended Justice: The Case Against 28 U.S.C. ^ For example, in 1855, Massachusetts passed a statute saying: Imprisonment for debt is hereby forever abolished in Massachusetts. Appleton, 71 Mass. ^ Two lawsuits against the City of Montgomery have settled. art. 833, 88687 (2013); Alexandra Natapoff, Misdemeanor Decriminalization, 68 Vand. ^ See Office of Judicial Servs., Supreme Court of Ohio, Collection of Fines and Court Costs in Adult Trial Courts (2015), http://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/Publications/JCS/finesCourtCosts.pdf [http://perma.cc/43AE-V32F]; see also Taylor Gillan, Ohio Supreme Court Warns Judges to End Debtors Prisons, Jurist (Feb. 7, 2014, 7:14 AM), http://jurist.org/paperchase/2014/02/ohio-supreme-court-warns-judges-to-end-debtors-prisons.php [http://perma.cc/EA4L-BKHJ]. In January 2015, the ACLU filed a federal lawsuit challenging debt collection practices that have resulted in the jailing of people simply because they are poor. Ending Modern-Day Debtors' Prisons | American Civil Liberties Union 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. It shows that poor defendants are being jailed at increasingly alarming rates for failing to pay legal debts, creating a racially-skewed, two-tiered system of justice that violates the basic constitutional rights of poor people. 14, 2015) (notes on file with Harvard Law School Library). ^ See infra notes 10315 and accompanying text. L. Rev. ^ Cf., e.g., Kimble v. Marvel Entmt, LLC, 135 S. Ct. 2401, 241011 (2015) (identifying the ero[sion] of statutory and doctrinal underpinnings, id. art. and is the first known codification of debt Perhaps this pushback will resolve the concerns described above. ^ See, e.g., Alec Karakatsanis, Policing, Mass Imprisonment, and the Failure of American Lawyers, 128 Harv. That decision came in a 1983 case called Bearden v. L. Rev. I, 16; Vt. Const. What are some types of debt that people are sent to jail for not paying? 1983); Kansas City v. Stricklin, 428 S.W.2d 721, 72526 (Mo. 556.061(29)) (defining infraction). I, 1, XXIII (There shall be no imprisonment for debt.); Tex. Debt collection practices like these have had a devastating impact on people of color in the Atlanta metropolitan area. Many kinds of monetary obligations, then, have been held to fall outside the scope of the state bans. See Richard E. James, Putting Fear Back into the Law and Debtors Back into Prison: Reforming the Debtors Prison System, 42 Washburn L.J. amend. Part IV explains why it makes good sense to subject the new debtors prisons to the two-tiered regulation of both Bearden and these state bans, in the form of new imprisonment-for-debt claims. Rev. Over one hundred years later, another author identified the same carve-outs and concluded theres a de facto debtors prison system in the United States. (Oct. 21, 2014) (notes on file with Harvard Law School Library). Yet, as noted, they may be jailed for failing to show up at a civil hearing or for not resolving civil debt. art. Oct. 9, 2015) [hereinafter Complaint, Bell v. Jackson], https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2455850/15-10-09-class-action-complaint-stamped.pdf [https://perma.cc/3CKT-XXX4] (describing reduction of debt at a rate of $58 per day of work); Karakatsanis, supra note 3, at 262 ($25 per day). Nearly two centuries ago, the United States formally abolished the incarceration of people who failed to pay off debts. Ending Modern-Day Debtors' Prisons Nearly two centuries ago, the United States formally abolished the incarceration of people who failed to pay off debts. L. Rev. Can we count on your support today? Read more. at 662; see also id. II, 21; N.C. Const. Copyright 1887-2023 Harvard Law Review. ^ See id. III, 30; Mo. art. ^ Missouris law clamps down on raising revenue through traffic fines and removes incarceration as a penalty for traffic offenses. Debra Shoemaker Ford, a citizen of Harpersville, Ala., spent seven weeks in the county jail without ever appearing in court. ^ E.g., Bearden v. Georgia, 461 U.S. 660, 66970 (1983). The second category, termed criminal justice financial obligations, actually consists of three sub-categories: fines, i.e. . This criminal debt "exception" to debtors' prisons is intimately linked to this country's complicated history regarding debtors and creditors. at 48 n.9 (majority opinion). If we can imprison for possession of marijuana, why cant we imprison for not paying back a loan?. Const. . [A]ny broadside pronouncement on their general validity would be inappropriate. Id. art. Until that time, failure to pay what you owed could and did land you in jail. Sch. Second, even in states that allow contempt proceedings, most courts require a sharply limited (and debtor-favorable) inquiry. This kind of open-ended standard, taken on its own terms, may generate a number of problems. at 66162. infra notes 5559 and accompanying text (discussing judicially created solutions in certain states). 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. It happens for two reasons. See id. In Benton County, Wash., a quarter of those in jail are there because they owe fines and fees. ^ Indeed, when trying to determine whether or not to read a scienter requirement into a statute, courts are guided by principles like those laid out in Morissette v. United States, 342 U.S. 246 (1952), looking to any required culpable mental state, the purpose of the statute, its connection to common law, whether or not it is regulatory in nature, whether it would be difficult to enforce with a scienter requirement, and whether the sanction is severe. 543, 550 n.45 (1976); Note, Imprisonment for Debt: In the Military Tradition, 80 Yale L.J. 558.006 by Act effective Jan. 1, 2017, 2014 Mo. 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. I, 28; N.D. Const. In fact, under the state law protections, criminal justice debtors would face a much friendlier inquiry than they would under Beardens freestanding equal protection jurisprudence.160 This is true under either of the two rules detailed above. art. Eliminating the Criminal Debt Exception for Debtors' Prisons Nevertheless, three specific kinds of criminal monetary obligations might actually be covered by the bans: fines for regulatory offenses, costs, and definitionally civil debts. art. Peter J. Coleman, Debtors and Creditors in America: Insolvency, Imprisonment for Debt, and Bankruptcy, 1607-1900 (1974). Const. A year later, in Tate v. Short, the justices ruled that a defendant may not be jailed solely because he or she is too indigent to pay a fine. 277 (2014). Stat. Mo. ^ See, e.g., City of Fort Madison v. Bergthold, 93 N.W.2d 112, 116 (Iowa 1958); Voelkel v. City of Cincinnati, 147 N.E. But the spirit behind them ought to drive other constitutional actors executives, legislators, and citizens to take swift action.167. When the offenders cant pay for all of this, they may be jailed even if they have already served their time for the offense. Detail In England, debtors owing money could be easily detained by the courts for indefinite periods, being kept in debtor's prisons. Imprisonment-for-debt claims would impose a heightened requirement on financial obligations that, unlike traditional fines and restitution, really further noncriminal goals despite being imposed from within the criminal system. at 256 (citing Barnes v. State, 19 Conn. 398 (1849)). . Now, those state debtors' prisons are making a comeback and, just like in the past, are having a disproportionate impact on the poor and working-class. The report calls for a slate of reforms to end debtors prison practices. As a result, many languished in prison and died there for the crime of their indigence. Finally, in only the last several years, the birth of a new brand of offender-funded justice has created a market for private probation companies. II, 16; Cal. Laws 453. Contact us at fees@acluofnc.org or (919) 391-7290. I, 20; Nev. Const.
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