politics

For poor people who can’t pay, the effects can be devastating. Among other things, they can lose their driver’s licenses and the ability to register a vehicle. Their wages, bank accounts, and tax refunds can be garnished. If they are on probation, failure to pay can help put them back behind bars. Debtors report damage to their credit scores and harassing phone calls from collection agents.

Sounds like it's having the intended effect of keeping the landless, non-gentree, class down.

Even more messed up is pay-to-stay prisons in the "land of the free". American culture loves to be "tough" on crime, then anyone who supports helping those found guilty or accused is immediately labeled as a criminal as well, because "why would you want to help a convict unless you're one too?"

If you can not afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. But you will be charged later for the attorney…… which we know you can’t afford?

So whether you can afford it or not, whether you are guilty or not, whether you did anything wrong or not, you're still gonna have to pay. why? Well, it's not like we can hire/train professionals to deal with the enforcement arm of these terrible policies. best we can do is 3 months of on the job training. But don't worry, if they mess everything up, you'll always have your day in court! Which you'll be charged for!

So the real moral of the American justice story is, you only get it if you're wealthy enough, but also if you're wealthy enough you're never beholden to it.

Debtors Prison never went away, it just reorganized upstream.

murica! fuck yeah. doing it wrong every motherfuckin day, yeah

it also charges poor people for legal aid even if they are acquitted or the cases against them are dropped.

This is some real damned if you do, damned if you don't energy. You beat the prosecutor, but you'll never beat the court putting you in jail for not being able to pay them.

I'll do you one better on TOP of this: the lowest level offenses, like traffic tickets, don't afford you the right to an attorney (somehow, eh? Also, catch my pun :P ). Maybe you think that's fine, because traffic tickets are different from theft charges and assault charges, etc. etc., but the catch is the lowest level of criminal offenses bundle in with those traffic tickets. If you catch a theft charge for the lowest amount, you don't get an attorney. If you catch a theft charge after the first, even if it's the same dollar store candy bar amount, now you are in a higher charge, with more jail time. The pattern repeats across other crimes as well. In fact, when I was paying attention, I'd say most of the 'crimes' that I saw people brought in for in my city were the low level offenses, and they were always the weasel crimes of cursing, making gestures... anything that could be used to put someone in jail for the night, and they would never get representation to fight the bullshit.