Aided and abetted by the likes of Attorney General Jeff Sessions—a man who wouldn’t recognize the Constitution if it smacked him in the face—the American dream has become the American scheme: the rich are getting richer and more powerful, while anyone who doesn’t belong to the power elite gets poorer and more powerless to do anything about the nation’s steady slide towards fascism, authoritarianism and a profit-driven police state.
Not content to merely pander to law enforcement and add to its military largesse with weaponry and equipment designed for war,Sessions has made a concerted effort to expand the police state’s power to search, strip, seize, raid, steal from, arrest and jail Americans for any infraction, no matter how insignificant.
Now Sessions has given state courts the green light to resume their practice of jailing individuals who are unable to pay the hefty finesimposed by the American police state. In doing so, Sessions has once again shown himself to be not only a shill for the Deep State but an enemy of the people.
First, some background on debtors’ prisons, which jail people who cannot afford to pay the exorbitant fines imposed on them by courtsand other government agencies.
Congress banned debtors’ prisons in 1833.
In 1983, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the practice to be unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection clause.
Where things began to change, according to The Marshall Project, was with the rise of “mass incarceration” when we started to imprison more people for lesser crimes.
By the late 1980s and early 90s, “there was a dramatic increase in the number of statutes listing a prison term as a possible sentence forfailure to repay criminal-justice debt.” During the 2000s, the courts started cashing in big-time “by using the threat of jail time – established in those statutes – to squeeze cash out of small-time debtors.”
More
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
7 comments:
Yes. DUI's and simple pot possession lands you in jail/prison in many states and localities. It is insane. A criminal record from your youth or early adulthood can cripple your career for life, meaning you might turn to crime just to survive. It isn't right and we should do better. This country incarcerates way more than communist China and they have 1 billion more people. I get DUI is not ok and pot is illegal but what have we to show for the wars created by the anti-drug/MADD crowd? DUI shouldn't even exist- charge the person with whatever infraction they did to get pulled over for and that's that!
Rich get richer because of policies elected officials put in place for them like 1/4% interest rate on bank loans that no one but rich people can get,run it thru their non profit then let it buy whatever thy want so they can "use it".
And they need 24% to loan money to my 22 YO son. He's a lot better risk than James Comey!
Thank the Republican idiots in control for that
Are you kidding?DUI kills innocent people.
the law is the law , obey the law and nothing to worry about. 8 years following the Pide Piper destroyed this nation , because obama hated the cops and the legal system. I hope he locks up everyone who doesn't give a turn signal, or has a dirty windshield. Get over it folks , drugs are illegal and obey the law.
If you make bad decisions you will pay the price. That is why there is the public defender's office to represent the poor people. And guess what, the same people that make bad decisions are the first ones to complain about their public defenders!
Post a Comment