TruthOut, March 15, 2016: DOJ Steps Up Bid to Combat “Criminalization of Poverty” Highlighted by Ferguson Abuses
“The department’s Civil Rights Division on Monday also fired off a letter to chief judges and court administrators across all 50 states, laying out new principles that should be followed when issuing fines and fees. Those include alternatives to incarceration, when defendants are found to be unable to pay. It also called on courts to provide ‘meaningful notice’ and ‘in appropriate cases counsel’ to those facing fines. The missive cited legal precedent in the letter, stating that ‘due process and equal protection principles of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibit punishing a person for his poverty.’ It was written by Vanita Gupta, the Principal Deputy Assistant General at the division, and Lisa Foster, the Director of the Office for Access to Justice.”