About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

26 Geo. J. on Poverty L. & Pol'y 213 (2018-2019)
The Criminalization of Poverty and the People Who Fight Back

handle is hein.journals/geojpovlp26 and id is 217 raw text is: Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law and Policy Volume XXVI, Number 2, Winter 2019 ARTICLES The Criminalization of Poverty and the People Who Fight Back Peter Edelman* I. IN TR O D U C T IO N ............................................................................................... 2 13 II. F E S A N D F E E S ............................................................................................. 2 14 A. Problem: Anti-Tax Fervor and the Phenomenal Number ofArrests ........ 214 B . R esp onse: F ighting B ack .......................................................................... 2 19 III. M O N E Y B A IL ................................................................................................ 2 2 1 A. Problem: Money Bail Pressures People to Plead Guilty .......................... 221 B. Response: M aking H eadw ay ..................................................................... 221 IV. CRIMINALIZATION OF POVERTY FOR NONMONETARY REASONS ................ 222 V . C O N C L U SIO N ................................................................................................. 2 2 6 I. INTRODUCTION Mass incarceration has been doing its damage for decades, but a newer criminalization-the criminalization of poverty-arrived with the Reagan era and the anti-tax rebellion that is still with us. Strapped, governments at all levels cut budgets and looked for money wherever they could find it. Among other things, states and municipalities turned to ubiquitous user fees, and the whole criminal 'justice system jacked up fines to exorbitant levels and soaked defendants with enormous fees irrelevant to the case, followed by more fees for every stage of the process from diversion to money bail to room and board in prisons. Drivers' license suspensions are an especially effective tool. Altogether, ten million people owe $50 billion for a sweeping list of penalties, composed disproportionately of people of color.' It earned its name of criminalization of poverty. * Peter Edelman is the Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Law and Public Policy at Georgetown University Law Center and the Faculty Director of the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality. © 2019, Peter Edelman. 1. DOUGLAS N. EVANS, THE DEBT PENALTY: ExPOSING THE FINANCIAL BARRIERS TO OFFENDER REINTEGRATION 7 (Research and Evaluation Ctr., John Jay Coll. of Criminal Justice ed., Aug. 2014), https://jjrec.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/debtpenalty.pdf; FINES, FEES, AND BAIL: PAYMENTS IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM THAT DISPROPORTIONATELY IMPACT THE POOR 7 (Council of Econ. Advisers

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most