Race, Ethnicity, Class, and Crime in the Media Fall 2020

To reference the criminalization of poverty in the United States, I found a podcast called “Justice in America” where they explore this heartbreaking and infuriating topic. I listened to Episode 12: The Criminalization of Poverty. In this episode the two hosts, Josie Duffy Rice and Clint Smith, and their guest Sara Totonchi, look at cases in the country that involve poverty criminalization. They discuss the history of the Criminal Justice System imposing fines and fees to those who already cannot pay their rent, not to mention that some of those fines and fees are for absurd reasons. With the assistance of this episode and the class material, it is easy to see that poor people have a more difficult time in the Criminal Justice System, and it is harder for these people to make their way out. This class has opened my eyes to the aspects that need to be improved in the Criminal Justice System, and this podcast episode expands on that. In the beginning of the episode and the lecture, a Bryan Stevenson quote is used: “It is better to be rich and guilty, than it is to be poor and innocent,” (Stevenson as cited by Rice & Smith, 2019), and “The opposite of poverty is not wealth, it is justice,” (Stevenson as cited by Engstrom, 2020). The whole episode is based around the fact that wealthier people have the advantage of money, and they can pay their way out of jail.

There are multiple cases that Rice and Smith talked about in the episode. Tom Barret was a homeless man that stole a can of beer from a store. He was arrested and offered a court-appointed attorney, but he could not pay the $50 for it, so he went to court unrepresented. Tom ended up having to pay over $400 a month including a rental fee for his ankle monitor. Tom donated plasma to try and get the money to pay his fees, but he would only be paid about $35 each time he donated. Because he could not pay these fees, late fees were added on and soon Tom owed over $1,000, and he was sent to jail for not being able to pay (Rice & Smith, 2019). There is another case involving Janet Blair-Cato and her dogs. Janet had a handful of rescued dogs and she received a “barking ticket” because the dogs were barking too loudly. She then got fines for not having the proper vaccines or tags for her dogs. These fines topped with an unpaid parking ticket that she had, she owed thousands of dollars to the court. She got on a payment plan with the court but happened to miss one payment, and because of that a warrant was put out for her arrest. Her original “crimes” were not punishable by jail time, but because she missed the one payment she spent fifty-two days in jail (Rice & Smith, 2019).

Throughout history there have been laws put in place so discrimination will not be tolerated in the Criminal Justice System. In the 1960’s the Supreme Court ruled that one cannot be punished for their status or condition without them actually being guilty of a specific illegal act (Rice & Smith, 2019). Even though this rule is in place, it is essentially criminalizing people that are homeless. Throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s, there have been courtroom decisions that reinforced the idea of debtors’ prisons being unconstitutional (Rice & Smith, 2019). They are viewed as unconstitutional because they violate the equal protection clause, and they widen the gap between the two tiers of the Criminal Justice System.

With every year that passes, it seems as though more laws are passed that criminalize homelessness. In Colorado for example, seventy-six cities passed 351 ordinances that are targeted toward the homeless, such as sitting too long, sleeping outside, sharing food outside, and camping (Rice & Smith, 2019). Many cities also ban living in vehicles, restrict sleeping in public, and restrict sitting and lying down in public (National Law Center for Homelessness & Poverty, 2019). With the laws against homelessness, there are also more fees/fines being imposed on people for questionable reasons. Ferguson, Missouri made $2.6 million from fines, some from leaving trash cans out on the wrong day, walking in the roadway, and wearing saggy pants (Rice & Smith, 2019). Between 2010 and 2014, 48 states increased criminal and civil court fees. In Massachusetts, people are charged $275 to appeal a traffic ticket. In North Carolina, people must pay to have a jury trial even though that is one of the most basic constitutional rights that people have (Rice & Smith, 2019). There was a judge in Georgia that created an administrative fee of $750 for every person who came before him in court. There was also a judge who imposed a $150 fine on a victim of domestic abuse because she did not want to testify against her abuser in court (Rice & Smith, 2019). Fortunately, both of these judges have been removed from their position of power.

This podcast was very easy to listen to and understand, and it gives many more examples of irrational fines/fees that I could not have even imagined. This podcast helps to put some of these every-day situations into perspective, and how easy it can be to accumulate debt from the courts, especially if someone is of lower class. Everything that this podcast presented is factual so I think that it would be a great listen for anyone in this class, or anyone who wants to learn more about the true Criminal Justice System.

References

Rice, J. & Smith, C. (Host). (2019, January 23). Justice in America: The criminalization of poverty [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from https://theappeal.org/justice-in-america-the-criminalization-of-poverty/

Engstrom, R. (2020). Criminalization of homelessness [PowerPoint Slides]. Retrieved from https://d2l.iup.edu/d2l/le/content/2963644/viewContent/22757049/View

Morgan Shawver