Alexandra Natapoff, "Punishment Without Crime" (w/ Jonathan Capehart)
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 30 сен 2024
- Alexandra Natapoff discusses her book, "Punishment Without Crime", at Politics and Prose at the Wharf on 1/3/19.
Every year some thirteen million people are charged with crimes such as jaywalking, trespassing, not buckling seat-belts, and possession of small amounts of pot. Most of those convicted for misdemeanors are poor and/or people of color, and their cases are decided in minutes, with most defendants appearing in court without a lawyer and pleading guilty, then finding themselves in a spiral of fines, revoked drivers’ licenses, lost jobs, and criminal records. In this detailed analysis of the country’s massive petty offense system, Natapoff, professor of law at the University of California, Irvine and the author of Snitching, shows that most of the people caught in the misdemeanor machine have not committed a crime. She urges a closer look at this sector of the criminal justice system and proposes reforms. Natapoff is in conversation with Jonathan Capehart, a writer for The Washington Post's PostPartisan blog and contributor for MSNBC.
www.politics-p...
Alexandra Natapoff is professor of law at the University of California, Irvine. A 2016 Guggenheim Fellow, she is also the author of Snitching: Criminal Informants and the Erosion of American Justice, which won the 2010 ABA Silver Gavel Award Honorable Mention for Books. She lives in Irvine, California.
Founded by Carla Cohen and Barbara Meade in 1984, Politics and Prose Bookstore is Washington, D.C.'s premier independent bookstore and cultural hub, a gathering place for people interested in reading and discussing books. Politics and Prose offers superior service, unusual book choices, and a haven for book lovers in the store and online. Visit them on the web at www.politics-pr...
Produced by Tom Warren
In 2012 I paid a “fix-it” ticket fine & court appearance fee of about $70 for a brake light bulb that was out in Sacramento,Ca. Almost 2yrs later driving to final exams I was pulled over in the East Bay Area & told my license was suspended & had it taken from me. After calling around I was informed the ticket from 2yrs ago was never cleared. I owed 1800 to the courts in late fees & the fine for driving on suspended license. Being employed and in school at the time I kept driving while awaiting a court date on the matter accruing 3 more suspended l’s tickets @$800 each in 6 months prior to my court appearance. Despite having a bank receipt of the original check being cashed by sac county & a letter from the clerk of sac county traffic court div. admitting their mistake, the judge refused to take the documents from me in court to even understand the situation. I was charged with over $3000 in fines then subsequently had my car impounded, after another traffic stop & a 30 day hold was placed on it making the fee to get it back from the impound yard more than my cars value. The El Cerrito,CA PD effectively stole my car. This ruined my life. I am still recovering.
Thanks for Uploading.
Put this problem into a choose-your-destiny story and people will get it easily.
Sample scenario:
You walk down the street and collide with a person on a phone, which drops and breaks. The person charges you with assault and property damage, because the phone is expensive. You plead not guilty but the judge says the assault will only be dropped if you plead guilty to property damage. The fine is $500 plus $250 court costs. You can set up a payment plan which has an added fee for each payment. How to get it paid off?
A. Sell something.
Outcome depends on whether the Recession wiped out all of your valuables.
Chance says you may find something to sell but it won't cover the $750.
B. Get a loan.
Outcome depends on your earnings and credit. You pay child support and a car payment so you don't qualify. Also, the Recession ruined credit for many as they struggled to survive.
C. Sell plasma.
Outcome depends on your health.
Chance says it is not good enough or that you can make enough for payments but not to pay off the whole fine, prolonging the time in which you may miss a payment and trigger a warrant.
D. Pawn your car.
Chance says you don't have one.
Etc.
No one is imprisoned for seatbelts violations or jaywalking violations. They are put in jail for failure to appear in court for these violations or not paying fines. Laws are in place for good reason. If you break laws there has to be consequences, if there were no consequences people would not obey laws. It that simple.
Simply saying some people cant afford to pay their fines is not a reasonable defense. If you cant pay for breaking the law, dont break the law. Jail is not designed to hurt the public, it is designed to make people realize that actions have consequences and to detour them from committing more crimes. The liberal mind only sees one side of a problem, and that side by itself supports and advocates for lawbreakers as if they are victims. When the other side is applied the full story is visible and logic prevails.