The study, “Incarceration’s Front Door: The Misuse of Jails in America,” found that the majority of those incarcerated in local and county jails are there for minor violations, including driving with suspended licenses, shoplifting or evading subway fares, and have been jailed for longer periods of time over the past 30 years because they are unable to pay court-imposed costs.
The report, by the Vera Institute of Justice, comes at a time of increased attention to mass incarceration policies that have swelled prison and jail populations around the country. This week in Missouri, where the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man by a white police officer stirred months of racial tension last year in the town of Ferguson, 15 people sued that city and another suburb, Jennings, alleging that the cities created an unconstitutional modern-day debtors’ prison, putting impoverished people behind bars in overcrowded, unlawful and unsanitary conditions.
While most reform efforts, including early releases and the elimination of some minimum mandatory sentences, have been focused on state and federal prisons, the report found that the disparate rules that apply to jails is also in need of reform.
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7 comments:
When you criminalize poverty, this is the result. Being poor is more expensive than being rich. That needs to change.
I stood as a juror a few years ago for a guy who was falsely accused of raping a woman he picked up as a hitch hiker. The guy had a broken back and was physically unable to have done this. He befriended her and offered for her to stay in his trailer but ended up kicking her out when the relationship ended. As a result the guy lost his house and all his positions because he couldn't post bail and ended up in jail for six months for his trial. The Accuser admitted during the trial she had done this out of spite. In the mean time an innocent man lost everything over a false accusation! If you are poor, you have few rights in the legal system. He also lost his job as well and now he is homeless!!!
The other side of this coin.. liberal attempts to reduce or eliminate jail time for 'minor' offenses further fuels the fire-- no fear, because no consequences.
That seems to be the liberal credo.. you should be able to do what you want with no accountability or consequences.
12:00
At least liberals recognize that getting caught with possession of a pill or two of illegal substances (that's it) DOES NOT warrant a year or two in prison. That happens every damn day in this country.
I wish other conservatives would accept this and continue the discussion.
Maybe, 1:08, but most of the time that wasn't the only time (or amount) that it happened.
Too often, it was the only time they got caught with enough evidence and all the i's dotted to get a conviction.
Yes, wisdom should be applied, but it usually is.
Things are reeling out of control in this country, and we need some accountability for actions that damage our society.
Life after public school has consequences. Bad behavior must be punished in a way that is memorable.
12:00
1:45
Too bad judges use traffic tickets and other minor violations as 'priors'. My cousin got 16 months for marijuana possession a couple years ago. No intent to distribute either. Didn't have a criminal record at the time.
The criminal Justice System is broke! The war on drug is a sham. It's more cost effective to provide drug treatment instead of locking up drug users. Drug abuse is an epidemic in Salisbury it's ravaging youths from every neighborhood in our county. Our children are addicted and are dying from drug abuse.
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