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

75 Md. L. Rev. 486 (2015-2016)
Charging the Poor: Criminal Justice Debt and Modern-Day Debtors' Prisons

handle is hein.journals/mllr75 and id is 498 raw text is: CHARGING THE POOR: CRIMINAL JUSTICE DEBT & MODERN-DAY DEBTORS' PRISONS NEIL L. SOBOL* ABSTRACT Debtors'prisons should no longer exist. While imprisonment for debt was common in colonial times in the United States, sub- sequent constitutional provisions, legislation, and court rulings all called for the abolition of incarcerating individuals to collect debt. Despite these prohibitions, individuals who are unable to pay debts are now regularly incarcerated, and the vast majority of them are indigent. In 2015, at least ten lawsuits were filed against municipalities for incarcerating individuals in modern- day debtors'prisons. Criminal justice debt is the primary source for this imprison- ment. Criminal justice debt includes fines, restitution charges, court costs, and fees. Monetary charges exist at all stages of the criminal justice system from pre-conviction to parole. They in- clude a wide variety of items, such as fees for electronic monitor- ing, probation, and room and board. Forty-three states even charge fees for an indigent's 'free public defender. With ex- panding incarceration rates and contracting state budgets, mone- tary sanctions have continued to escalate. Additionally, many states and localities are now outsourcing prison, probation, mon- itoring, and collection services to private companies, who add additional fees and charges to the criminal justice debt burden of defendants. The impact of criminal justice debt is especially severe on the poor and minorities as they are frequently assessed poverty © 2016 Neil L. Sobol. *Associate Professor, Texas A&M University School of Law; J.D. (cum laude, order of the coif), Southern Methodist University; M.S. and B.A. (with distinction), Stanford University. I appreciate the encouragement and assistance of my colleagues at Texas A&M including Cynthia Alkon, Susan Ayres, Mark Burge, Patrick Flanagan, Timothy Mulvaney, Carol Pauli, Huyen Pham, Tanya Pierce, and Lisa Rich, as well as, the research assistance of Zachery S. Brown. I am also grateful for the feedback received following presentations at the Central States Law Schools Association Annual Scholarship Conference at Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center, ClassCrits VII at U.C. Davis School of Law, Texas A&M University School of Law, and the Law and Society Association Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington. 486

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