Problems with the criminal justice system are vast, and poverty (and profit) play a significant role.
No person in America should be locked up because they are poor. Yet, every day we see homeless people arrested for sleeping outside; parents who can’t afford to purchase their release from jail; and people who cycle in and out of jail because they can’t afford to pay old fines as their debt grows from new ones. Meanwhile, cities and counties fill their coffers from the fines and fees that are imposed on people who are struggling just to survive. We need a criminal justice system that puts people over profit and helps to make vulnerable people more stable, not less stable.
-From The American Bar Association
(linked & cited below)
Source citation: Mathews II, John, and Felipe Curiel. "Criminal Justice Debt Problems." American Bar Association, 30 Nov. 2019, www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/ economic-justice/criminal-justice-debt-problems/. Accessed 18 Aug. 2020.
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