reading | the poor trapped in the american judicial system
2024-09-19
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it may only take a few minor traffic tickets to bring a person's life to a standstill.
harriet cleveland, 50, lived in montgomery, alabama, and worked at a daycare center before the recession. one day, she was stopped at a police checkpoint in her neighborhood and received a ticket. because she couldn't pay the fine in full, the wheels of bad luck began to roll. over the next five years, the grandmother went back and forth to jail and lost almost everything: her house, her car, her job, and eventually went bankrupt. the court debt snowballed, and despite paying more than $3,000 to the court's private agency, she still owed the court $2,714.
the days of traffic tickets costing only $50 or $100 are long gone. in the 1980s and 1990s, the reagan administration's tax cuts led to a sharp drop in fiscal revenue. when the authorities themselves were threatened by "poverty", the operating costs of laws and government agencies were naturally passed on to their "users", minor violations were severely cracked down, and fines soared. in california in 2011, even if the fees were paid on time, a $500 ticket actually cost $1,829. there are endless charges, and one county in michigan even charges $500 for the operation of the court gym. in a society with a sharp divide between the rich and the poor, the rich can get away with it, but it is disastrous for the poor and those hovering on the edge of poverty. the end of being unable to pay the fine is often prison. poverty has become a kind of original sin.
in today’s america, in addition to the rapid expansion of the “debtors’ prisons” mentioned above, veteran anti-poverty advocate and scholar peter edelman has observed that more and more poor people are being punished for their poverty:
every day, 500,000 americans go to jail because they cannot afford bail. both probation and parole require the exchange of money. the social security department uses increasingly harsh conditions to deprive the poor of their right to enjoy public welfare in the name of welfare fraud. the homeless, who already have nowhere to go, have become targets of laws and policies. wandering, sitting, sleeping, or sleeping in public places or on public transportation will result in fines and arrests. vulnerable people who have called 911 for help many times not only do not receive help, but are expelled from the city and become homeless. mental hospitals have been closed on a large scale, and prisons have become the new destination for patients with mental illnesses. private prisons profit from this, and prisoner abuse occurs frequently...
in his view, the new criminalization of poverty, the escalation of the mass incarceration movement of the 1970s, has invaded every aspect of society and shattered basic principles of equal protection.
peter edelman has been engaged in the anti-poverty and social security movement for more than 60 years. in the 1960s, he became a legislative adviser to robert kennedy, a senator committed to social and racial equality and a highly anticipated us presidential candidate. he also experienced the assassinations of martin luther king and robert kennedy. in the 1970s, he fought against mass incarceration as the head of a juvenile correctional institution. in 1996, he resigned from his position as deputy secretary of the department of health and human services because clinton signed the welfare reform bill, which tore apart the social security network for the poor. it was also in this position and background that he conducted a comprehensive investigation into the criminalization of poverty. the book he wrote, poverty is not a crime: the poor trapped in the american justice system, revealed the current situation and root causes of the criminalization of poverty and called for reform.
poverty is not a crime: the poor trapped in the american justice system, by peter edelman, translated by hao jingping, published by shanghai education press
in this book, there are individual tragedies and institutional cruelty, perpetrators who exploit the poor and heroes who rise up to resist. you can see how the american judicial system institutionalizes crime and poverty, and understand poverty, the united states, and the human condition in the contemporary world from the depth of history. as civil rights lawyer bryan stevenson said, "this book is a striking and in-depth examination of how we demonize the poor and maintain poverty through wrong policies. it is essential reading for anyone trying to understand the need for social justice in the united states."
author:
editor: zhou yiqian editor-in-charge: zhu zifen
