It is Easter 2018, and while it isn’t against the law to be poor in Delaware, it might as well be. A system of fines and penalties enacted against the poor to pay for a government that only serves the rich, have left poor (and even some average) Delawareans one speeding ticket away from bankruptcy.
But to understand America’s new impulse to make being poor a crime, one has to follow the trail of tax cuts that began in the Reagan era, which created revenue gaps all over the country.
The anti-tax lobby told voters they would get something for nothing: the state or municipality would tighten its belt a little, it would collect big money from low-level offenders, and everything would be fine.
Exorbitant fines and fees designed to make up for revenue shortfalls are now a staple throughout most of the country. Meanwhile, white-collar criminals get slaps on the wrist for financial crimes that ruin millions of lives. Though wealthy scofflaws owe a cumulative $450bn in back taxes, fines and fees from the justice system hit lower-income people – especially people of color – the hardest.
“Broken windows” law enforcement policy – the idea that mass arrests for minor offenses promote community order – aided and abetted this new criminalization of poverty, making the police complicit in the victimization of the poor. Community policing turned into community fleecing. Enforcing “quality of life” rules was touted as a way to achieve civic tranquility and prevent more serious crime. What it actually did was fill jails with poor people, especially because those arrested could not pay for bail.
And what might we do to fix it?
In Finland, several other European countries, and Argentina, penalties on offenses ranging from shoplifting to securities law violations are imposed on a sliding scale based on a person’s last declared income and the nature of the crime. In these nations it is believed the wealthy and the poor should suffer equally for infractions. In other words, as the title of nytimes.com opinion piece by Alec Schierenbeck suggests: A Billionaire and a Nurse Shouldn’t Pay the Same Fine for Speeding.
And the author makes a good case for change: For people living on the economic margins, even minor offenses can impose crushing financial obligations, trapping them in a cycle of debt and incarceration for nonpayment. In Ferguson, Mo., for example, a single $151 parking violation sent a black woman struggling with homelessness into a seven-year odyssey of court appearances, arrest warrants and jail time connected to her inability to pay. […]
