These warrants had led to the arrest and jailing of poor people struggling to pay criminal justice debt without any consideration for, or inquiry into, their ability to pay. A debtors prison is any prison, jail, or other detention facility in which people are incarcerated for their inability, refusal, or failure to pay debt. The Debtors Act 1869 (32 & 33 Vict. The report exposes a counterproductive system for the collection of criminal justice debt. ^ See Fla. Stat. for Justice, Criminal Justice Debt: A Barrier to Reentry 18 (2010), http://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/legacy/Fees%20and%20Fines%20FINAL.pdf [http://perma.cc/6SVB-KZKQ]; Human Rights Watch, supra note 32, at 23. An Appendix to this Note, available on the Harvard Law Review Forum, provides the critical language of each of the forty-one state constitutional bans. Stories like Clevelands have inspired a naissance of advocacy and scholarship that challenge the legal basis for incarceration upon nonpayment of criminal justice debts.19 But existing approaches have failed to recognize an alternate potential font of authority: state bans on debtors prisons.20 Most commentators have thus far focused on the 1983 Supreme Court case Bearden v. Georgia.21 Bearden held that a court cannot, consistently with the Fourteenth Amendment, revoke parole for failure to pay criminal debt when the debtor has made sufficient bona fide efforts to pay.22 Bearden established a powerful (albeit somewhat vague) standard that protects debtors whose inability to pay isnt willful, by requiring courts to hold ability-to-pay hearings.23 But, as argued below, certain types of criminal justice debtors fall under an even higher degree of protection than Bearden provides. Indeed, in People ex rel. Nonprofit journalism about criminal justice, A nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system, Intimate portraits of people who have been touched by the criminal justice system. ^ 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. The complaint, Kennedy v. City of Biloxi, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi in Gulfport and cites violations of the U.S. Constitution's Fourth and 14th Amendments. Most importantly for present purposes, the debts at issue historically were contractual, not criminal. In other words, poor people with debt face criminal consequences but without the Constitutional protections afforded to criminal defendants. Bill of Rights, 16; Ky. Const. . debtors' prisons in the United States as they existed in the early years of the Republic. $120/year. Alec Karakatsanis, a lawyer who last year brought one of the only lawsuits to successfully challenge a local court system for jailing indigent debtors, says that the first step was the normalization of incarceration. Ala. Nov. 12, 2013) [hereinafter Complaint, Cleveland v. Montgomery], http://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/downloads/case/amended_complaint-_harriet_cleveland_0.pdf [http://perma.cc/Y4CM-99AK]. . Most importantly, explains John Pollock, the coordinator of the National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel, indigent defendants have a right to counsel in criminal cases, but not in civil ones. Debt, Imprisonment for | Encyclopedia.com First, infractions known as regulatory offenses, also known as public welfare offenses. The most relevant example is traffic violations, which have played a major role in Ferguson and elsewhere. VIII; id. ^ See Shepard, supra note 6, at 152930 (describing the rules origin in the common law precept that creditors must exhaust legal remedies before turning to equitable ones). In the late 80s and early 90s, she says, there was a major uptick in the number of rules, at the state level but also in the counties, indicating jail time for failure to pay various fines and fees.. Imprisonment for nonpayment of contractual debt was a normal feature of American commercial life from the colonial era into the beginning of the nineteenth century.93 But with the rise of credit testing and the replacement of personal lending networks with secured credit, imprisonment for nonpayment came to be seen as a harsh and unwieldy sanction,94 and a growing movement pressed for its abolition. ^ See, e.g., Fla. Stat. 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. In response, the Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice announced reforms to educate local courts on how to protect indigent defendants' rights. Stat. In February 2014, the Supreme Court of Ohio released a new "bench card" giving much-needed instructions to Ohio judges to explain how to avoid debtors' prison practices in their courtrooms. ^ See, e.g., Colo. Const. The Rise of "Debtors' Prisons" in the US - JONATHAN TURLEY .). One-Time Monthly Annual. at 672. I, 11; S.C. Const. I, 19; S.D. ^ See, e.g., Lee v. State, 75 Ala. 29, 30 (1883); Mosley v. Mayor of Gallatin, 78 Tenn. 494, 497 (1882). ^ See, e.g., Karakatsanis, supra note 3, at 26364. 1976) (en banc); Zeitinger v. Mitchell, 244 S.W.2d 91, 9798 (Mo. Debtors' Prison Relief Act of 1792 was a United States federal statute enacted into law by the first President of the United States George Washington on May 5, 1792. In 2013, the ACLU of Ohio issuedOutskirts of Hope, a report documenting blatantly illegal debtors' prisons around the state. In these cases, the creditor a predatory lender, a landlord, or a utility provider or a debt collector (hired by the creditor) may bypass bankruptcy court and take the debtor straight to civil court. Const. (citing Commonwealth v. Nichols, 92 Mass. 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). The practice was partially abolished federally in 1839. . Laws 941). at 56; see also William J. Stuntz, The Pathological Politics of Criminal Law, 100 Mich. L. Rev. ^ See Recent Legislation, supra note 23, at 131619 (criticizing the lack of such a definition in recent Colorado legislation). . A. ^ For example, one author, writing in 1889, pointed out a number of ways in which the state bans were limited. ^ Id. But of course, funding the government is not one of the traditional purposes of penal law. (called for should hyperlink to. If courts begin to recognize claims under the state bans on debtors prisons, imprisonment for some criminal debts would become subject to both federal and state restrictions. Instead of a test that asks whether the debtor has sought employment or credit per Bearden, in some states there would be a limited inquiry into whether the debtor possessed specific, nonexempt property that the debtor could be ordered to turn over. . (quoting Lamar v. State, 47 S.E. Do debtors' prisons still exist? | HowStuffWorks The history of US debtors prisons and abolition of jail time at 55 (Georgia); id. And the Court has made clear this discretion is central to the core penal goals of deterrence, incapacitation, and retribution.162 Against that baseline, the tradition of Bearden simply mandates that once a sentencing court has imposed a monetary obligation, it may not convert that obligation into imprisonment for failure to pay absent a special finding, a basic threshold that ensures the defendant isnt invidiously punished for being poor. Despite the Courts reluctance to rule on an issue not properly briefed, federal courts might return to the issue and confirm that states must apply their bans on imprisonment for debt to costs (and other quasi-civil debts) in a criminal case.150 In fact, the lawsuits against Ferguson and Jennings hinted at this argument,151 although neither complaint cited the Missouri Constitution. . See sources cited supra note 95. at 2410, as a principal justification for overruling precedent in federal stare decisis doctrine). Int. See, e.g., Derek A. Westen, Comment, Fines, Imprisonment, and the Poor: Thirty Dollars or Thirty Days, 57 Calif. L. Rev. ch. May Day and Abolition - CounterPunch.org ^ See id. Some judges will rule that the debtor is not legitimately indigent and is, instead, willfully neglecting the debt because the debtor showed up to the courtroom wearing a flashy jacket or expensive tattoos. But, as argued below, the state bans on debtors prisons can supplement Bearden and they may well be relevant to the inquiry under James. Most recently, it filed a successful petition for habeas corpus for Richard Vaughan, a man sentenced to 18 days in jail for failing to pay a $895 fine that he could not afford. Next came the fiscal crisis of the 2000s, during which many states were contending with budget deficits and looking for ways to save4. Debtor's prisons were abolished in the United States in 1833. In August 2015, the ACLU of Louisiana released, Louisianas Debtors Prisons: An Appeal to Justice. art. Read more. Cf. Nevertheless, three specific kinds of criminal monetary obligations might actually be covered by the bans: fines for regulatory offenses, costs, and definitionally civil debts. Led by James Herttell, Chairman and advocate for abolition, the committee resolved that "all . Const. The best evidence to date is the Department of Justices 2015 report on the Ferguson Police Department. Why Are We Still Sending People to Jail for Being Poor? It's Time to I, 19; Pa. Const. State Bans on Debtors' Prisons and Criminal Justice Debt As a result of the greater reliance on incarceration, says Karin Martin, a professor at John Jay College and an expert on criminal justice financial obligations, there was a dramatic increase in the number of statutes listing a prison term as a possible sentence for failure to repay criminal-justice debt3. ^ See Complaint, Fant v. Ferguson, supra note 48; Complaint, Jenkins v. Jennings, supra note 24. 939.12 (2014) (defining crime). 1706, 172729 (2015). (forthcoming 2016), http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2544519 [http://perma.cc/9APA-W5VQ]. I, 19; Idaho Const. The history of the United States is intertwined with debt and immigrants. 575, 576 (Fla. 1939); Roach v. Oliver, 244 N.W. The lawsuit challenges the countys practice of generating revenue by forcing manual labor on, threatening jail, and jailing indigent people who are unable to afford to pay fines, fees, costs, and restitution imposed by the county on criminal defendants. Lanz v. Dowling, 110 So. if the judgment debtor unjustly refuses to apply the identified property towards the satisfaction of a judgment; however, the court struck it down under the ban on imprisonment for debt when contempt was used to require the judgment debtor to set aside and deliver a portion of his/her future income toward the satisfaction of the judgment debt. Id. Const. ^ Id. ^ James v. Strange, 407 U.S. 128, 130 n.3 (1972) (emphasis added) (quoting Kan. Stat. 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. . a failure to pay a debt, but . 1509, 152627. In Strattman v. Studt,142 the defendant was sentenced to the statutory maximum of six months, a fine of $500, and costs.143 After having served his time, and when he couldnt pay his debt, he was imprisoned to sit out his debt at $3 per day.144 The Ohio Supreme Court held that costs are imposed for the purpose of lightening the burden on taxpayers financing the court system, not for a punitive, retributive, or rehabilitative purpose, as are fines.145 Observing that costs arose out of an implied contract with the court, Strattman held that [a] judgment for costs in a criminal case is a civil, not a criminal, obligation, and may be collected only by the methods provided for the collection of civil judgments.146 Future state supreme courts confronting the issue should embrace Strattmans logic and ban cost-related imprisonment. art. Until that time, failure to pay what you owed could and did land you in jail. I, 20; Alaska Const. . Feb. 8, 2015) [hereinafter Complaint, Jenkins v. Jennings], http://equaljusticeunderlaw.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Complaint-Jennings-Debtors-Prisons-FILE-STAMPED.pdf [http://perma.cc/LM7S-LZW2]. L. Rev. Under the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, the practice is listed as a civil-rights violation. Debtors' Prison Relief Act of 1792 - Wikipedia ^ See id. Can we count on your support today? Indeed, based upon the state-by-state abolition of debtors prisons in the nineteenth century, the bans highlight the self-determination of states within the federalist structure. art. While the contemporary discussion on criminal justice debt often makes cursory reference to this historic abolition of debtors prisons,25 the legal literature contains no sustained analysis of whether the state bans on debtors prisons might invalidate some of whats going on today. the united states abolished debtors' prisons in 1929 II, 21; N.C. Const. See Thacher v. Williams, 80 Mass. The debt in James had this characteristic, as the underlying statute specified that the total amount . So, in 1833, Congress abolished the practice under federal law. L.Q. ^ Complaint, Cleveland v. Montgomery, supra note 14, at 4. c. 62) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland that aimed to reform the powers of courts to detain debtors . at 133.). Ending Modern-Day Debtors' Prisons Nearly two centuries ago, the United States formally abolished the incarceration of people who failed to pay off debts. ^ See infra notes 10315 and accompanying text. art. 938.29(4) (2015) (specifying that such debtors shall not be denied any of the protections afforded any other civil judgment debtor). Debtor prisons weren't formally abolished until the mid-19th Century. In the 1970s and 1980s, he says, we started to imprison more people for lesser crimes. In the end, however, imprisonment for debt was abolished not by an organized reform movement but, instead, by substantial changes in commercial practices and the corresponding . ^ Two lawsuits against the City of Montgomery have settled. See id. Complaint, Fant v. Ferguson, supra note 48, at 53 (arguing governments may not take advantage of their position to impose unduly harsh methods of collection); Complaint, Jenkins v. Jennings, supra note 24, at 5859 (same). Those who did not pay the debts so meticulously recorded by the shivering Bob Cratchit could have been thrown in prison by Scrooge part of why he was so hated and feared by his debtors. In 1970, in Williams v. Illinois, the high court decided that a maximum prison term could not be extended because the defendant failed to pay court costs or fines. Dec. 23, 2014) (en banc), http://www.courts.mo.gov/sup/index.nsf/d45a7635d4bfdb8f8625662000632638/fe656f36d6b518a886257db80081d43c [http://perma.cc/BTX3-4ERC]. Modern-Day Debtors' Prisons: Race and Revenue Generation in Courts No matter what, you can always turn to The Marshall Project as a source of trustworthy journalism about the criminal justice system. History of Prisons in the United States: 1830-1919 - Timetoast timelines Stat. References: George Philip Bauer, "The Movement against Imprisonment for Debt in the United States" (Ph.D. Indeed, costs function more as fees for service or taxes than as punishments. ^ See Complaint, Fant v. Ferguson, supra note 48, at 3. at 558 (arguing that mens rea, like the act requirement, becomes little more than a point of orientation. ACLU Statement for U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Hearing on Municipal Policing and Courts: A Search for Justice or a Quest for Revenue. First, some of the responses leave unresolved the substantive definition of indigence for the purposes of ability-to-pay hearings.63 Without such a definition, discretion is left to the same courts that have been imprisoning criminal debtors thus far.64 Second, even tightly written laws,65 settlements, and resolutions need to be enforced, which requires accountability and monitoring.66 Abolishing the new debtors prisons is as much a test of moral and societal conviction as it is of sound drafting. James, 407 U.S. at 140 (quoting Rinaldi, 384 U.S. at 309). ^ Stillman, supra note 11. The report documents the routine jailing of poor people across the state solely for their failure to pay court-imposed fines and fees. See id. In 2016 the ACLU of Arkansas, the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the Morrison and Foerster law firm filed a federal proposed class action lawsuit challenging a debtors prison in the City of Sherwood and Pulaski County. As one might guess, the states have split on whether costs fall within the scope of the bans. The warrants charge debtors with failure to pay, order their arrest and jailing in the Harrison County Adult Detention Center, and explicitly state that debtors can avoid jail only if they pay the full amount of fines and fees in cash. Yet, citizens like Sanders and Ford are, to this day, routinely jailed after failing to repay debt. v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 1, 10506 (1973) (Marshall, J., dissenting); Johnson v. Bredesen, 624 F.3d 742, 749 (6th Cir. 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. ^ See, e.g., State ex rel. See Act of May 5, 2015, 2015 Ga. Laws 422. . ^ See DOJ, Ferguson Investigation, supra note 29, at 3, 910. The result is one of the most draconian debtors prisons uncovered by the ACLU since 2010. art. See Appendix, State Bans on Debtors Prisons and Criminal Justice Debt, 129 Harv. 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. "M'aidez, m'aidez," says the international distress signal. art. Id. In this context, exemptions laws are provisions that exempt a certain amount of personal property from attachment and garnishment. Stay informed about our latest work in Debtors' Prisons First name Last name Email ZIP code art. III, 30; Mo. 4:15-cv-00252 (E.D. See, e.g., Ex parte Phillips, 771 So. III, 38; Mich. Const. See id. at 131. F. 253, 26263 (2015); McLean, supra note 1, at 88591; Campbell Robertson, Suit Alleges Scheme in Criminal Costs Borne by New Orleanss Poor, N.Y. Times (Sept. 17, 2015), http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/18/us/suit-alleges-scheme-in-criminal-costs-borne-by-new-orleanss-poor.html. 2:13-cv-00732 (M.D. at 5. ^ See Armstrong v. Ayres, 19 Conn. 540, 546 (1849); Johnson v. Temple, 4 Del. milestone in the process of abolitionin the state of New York and throughout the United States. ^ Joseph Shapiro, Measures Aimed at Keeping People Out of Jail Punish the Poor, NPR (May 24, 2014, 4:58 PM), http://www.npr.org/2014/05/24/314866421/measures-aimed-at-keeping-people-out-of-jail-punish-the-poor. Myers v. State, 1 Conn. 502 (1816) (holding that a defendant who rented his carriage on Sunday, a crime punishable by a fine of twenty dollars, couldnt be found guilty without a showing of mens rea). Since the 1990s, and increasingly in the wake of the Great Recession, many municipalities, forced to operate under tight budgetary constraints, have turned to the criminal justice system as an untapped revenue stream.1 Raising the specter of the debtors prisons once prevalent in the United States,2 imprisonment for failure to pay debts owed to the state has provoked growing concern in recent years.3 These monetary obligations are not contractual liabilities in the ledger of an Ebenezer Scrooge,4 but sums that the state itself assesses through the criminal justice system. Debt collection practices like these have had a devastating impact on people of color in the Atlanta metropolitan area. It calls for reform through legislative action and court rules. At this time, the US federal government abolished debtors' prisons, where people had previously been incarcerated . I, 14 (No person shall be imprisoned for failure to pay a fine in a criminal case unless he has been afforded adequate time to make payment, in installments if necessary, and has willfully failed to make payment.). Though poverty has increased in Lexington County since 2012with poverty rates for Black and Latino residents at more than double the rate for white residentsthe County continues to rely on revenue from fines and fees in magistrate court cases. Read More. . ^ See id. I, 18; Utah Const. The City of Sherwoods hot check court is part of a labyrinthine and lucrative system in which defendants charged with bouncing even a single for $15 have ultimately been charged thousands of dollars in court costs, fines, and fees payable to the city and the county. Through public education and advocacy, the ACLU of Colorado ultimately secured the passage ofHB 1061, which was signed into law in May 2014 and now bans debtors' prisons in Colorado. November 6, 2017 By: Bobby Casey, Managing Director GWP Do an internet search on debtors' prisons, and the top searches will This article has 3 letters to the editor. So far, the vast majority of academic commentators, litigators, legislatures, and other legal actors have focused on the federal protections extended under Bearden and its predecessors.165 Bearden represents a powerful tool for change, yet state law bans on debtors prisons could provide even greater protections for certain criminal justice debtors where the states interest in collecting isnt penal. I, 15; Okla. Const. Stat. See Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Books 7172 (Robert Douglas-Fairhurst ed., Oxford Univ. 161.685(2) (1973) (omission in original)). F. 153 (2015), https://harvardlawreview.org/2015/11/state-bans-on-debtors-prisons-and-criminal-justice-debt-appendix. Copyright 1887-2023 Harvard Law Review. at 42, 53. Through the Tennessee Coalition for Sensible Justice, the ACLU of Tennessee supported the passage of SB 802/HB 1173, which would amend the law to offer courts alternatives to revoking peoples licenses, including allowing a person to file an indigence affidavit and have all their fees and fines waived, giving courts the ability to permit restricted licenses to allow people to drive to work, school, recovery programs and other necessities, and setting up a payment plan to pay the fees over time. The system now issues more than a thousand warrants each year to order the arrest and immediate incarceration of people who owe court fines and fees unless they pay the full amount of their debts before being booked in jail. 1983); Kansas City v. Stricklin, 428 S.W.2d 721, 72526 (Mo. Comeback of debtors' prisons: U.S. courts revive Dickensian practice of jailing people for failing to pay legal fees United States abolished debtors' prisons in the 1830s, but more than a third of . ^ See Settlement Agreement, Cleveland v. Montgomery, supra note 18, at 1. 3, 2013), http://www.acluohio.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/2013_0404LetterToOhioSupremeCourtChiefJustice.pdf [http://perma.cc/R3T5-WPEL]. Im confused, is this a civil or a criminal matter? All Rights Reserved. shall become a judgment in the same manner and to the same extent as any other judgment under the code of civil procedure.157 In Florida, convicted indigents assessed costs for due process services are expressly provided with the same protections as civil-judgment debtors.158 But not all collections statutes are so explicit, of course.159. State law allows the Department of Motor Vehicles to suspend the licenses of people who have willfully failed to pay these fines and fees, but most California traffic courts do not give drivers a meaningful opportunity to prove that their failure to pay is due to poverty, rather than willful non-compliance. ^ Monsanto Co. v. Geertson Seed Farms, 130 S. Ct. 2743, 2761 (2010). Despite that, state judges continued to send people to jail for failing to pay court debts. 958, 958 (Ga. 1904))); and Appleton, 71 Mass. ^ This includes the state constitutional bans of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Wyoming. ^ For an argument that awareness campaigns are more effective than litigation, see Eric Balaban, Shining a Light into Dark Corners: A Practitioners Guide to Successful Advocacy to Curb Debtors Prisons, 15 Loy. monetary penalties imposed as a condition of a sentence, including, say, a traffic ticket; fees, which may include jail book-in fees, bail investigation fees5, public defender application fees, drug testing fees, DNA testing fees, jail per-diems for pretrial detention, court costs, felony surcharges, public defender recoupment fees, and on and on and on; and restitution, made to the victim or victims for personal or property damage. 2d 227, 233 (Ala. Crim. By leaving this mens rea determination to individual judges, rather than providing bright-line criteria as to how to make the distinction, the justices left open the possibility that a local judge with high standards for indigence could circumvent the spirit of Bearden and send a very, very poor debtor to jail or prison. 1971)). I, 5. art. Despite arising out of a criminal proceeding, costs are cleanly distinguishable from fines, restitution, and forfeiture in their basic purpose: compensating for or subsidizing the governments marginal expenditures on criminal proceedings. I, 20 (That no person shall be imprisoned for debt.); Ga. Const. Where a state has chosen to ban debtors prisons, it shouldnt be able to welcome them back in surreptitiously, by grafting them onto the criminal system.164. L. Rev. In response, since 2009, the ACLU and ACLU affiliates across the country have been exposing and challenging modern-day debtors' prisons, and urging governments and courts to pursue more rational and equitable approaches to criminal justice debt. Also, criminal-justice debt affects private creditworthiness and eligibility for a drivers license, making it harder to get a job, get a home, get a loan, or otherwise find a way to avoid jail, repay the debt and regain solid economic footing. This provision is a marked improvement in light of the trend of legislative enactments, starting in 2005, that made many fines for criminal offenses non-waivable, even when an individual could prove inability to pay. Unbeknownst to her, a collection agency had filed a lawsuit against her, and, having never received the notice instructing her to appear, she had missed her date in court. I, 20; Nev. Const. L. Rev. art. except the homestead exemption.78 Avoiding broad commentary on the general validity of various state recoupment statutes,79 the Court nonetheless expressed concern with the classification drawn by Kansass recoupment statute, which strip[ped] from indigent defendants the array of protective exemptions Kansas ha[d] erected for other civil judgment debtors,80 including state exemptions from attachment and restrictions on wage garnishment.81 While a state could prioritize its claim to money over other creditors (say, by giving its liens priority), [t]his does not mean . ^ E.g., In re Nichols, 749 So. The Act of Congress established penal regulations and restrictions for persons jailed for property debt, tax evasion, and tax resistance. 293, 294 (Ga. 1905) ([I]n enacting the statute now under consideration, the [l]egislative purpose was not to punish . for the enforcement of a judgment.); Mo. VIII; Beth A. Colgan, Reviving the Excessive Fines Clause, 102 Calif. L. Rev. . . The ACLU Racial Justice Program and allies across the country are bringing lawsuits and advocacy to expose and challenge these practices. ^ See Bearden v. Georgia, 461 U.S. 660, 672 (1983). In the United States, debtors prisons were banned under federal law in 1833. Of course, while the disparity between how indigent and well-heeled defendants are treated, see supra note 87 and accompanying text, is arguably not right, it seems reasonable enough to pass rational basis scrutiny, see, e.g., FCC v. Beach Commcns, Inc., 508 U.S. 307, 31415 (1993); U.S. R.R. Legislation passed in 1841, 1867, and 1898 replacing a system that criminalized bankruptcy with one designed to resolve as much debt as the debtor could afford, while absolving the remainder. Legal Structure of Debtors' Prisons Debtors' prisons can be seen throughout the history of Western civilization in some form or another. ^ See Recent Legislation, supra note 23, at 1313, 1315. See id. Members of the Court Costs and Fees Working Group include: Mitali Nagrecha, Criminal Justice Policy Program at Harvard Law . art. 853, 855 (1973).
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