How You Could go to Debtors' Prison in the U.S.
This is one of the best articles I've seen that summarizes the situation epitomized by Ferguson, where people (mostly minorities) are subjected to compounding fines over traffic violations and the like. This article comes right out and states it is due to the legislature's reluctance to raise taxes and the need for operating funds. If you read to the end, you will be surprised at who is coming to their financial aid.
In addition, the article names five states that are the worst with this practice. NJ, my state, is not listed, but I know from first-hand observation (of the municipal court in at least one major township) that this is going on.
What started as a ticket for making an illegal left turn ended up with a Georgia teenager spending five days in a county jail. That's because 19-year-old Kevin Thompson couldn't quickly pay $838 in fines and fees related to the traffic offense.
Thompson described his time in jail "as the worst in his life," said Nusrat Choudhury, the American Civil Liberties Union attorney who represented the teen in filing a federal lawsuit.
Although DeKalb County and Judicial Correctional Services (JCS) settled the case for $70,000 a year ago, what happened to Thompson still occurs, and it's not confined to one part of the country.
"These practices are rampant across the country, most recently in Louisiana," Lauren-Brooke Eisen, a senior counsel with the Justice Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, said. "Fees and fines emerged as a powerful funding mechanism when state legislatures balked at raising revenue."
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-you-could-go-to-debtors-prison-in-the-u-s/
In addition, there is a link to an article about these scumbag companies like Judicial Correction Systems (JCS), which team up with the courts to extort the money from those caught in their nefarious net.
Cher
