Fundamentally an issue of “power and control” in court systems, the trend of punishing and incarcerating impoverished people who cannot pay fees and fines create “debtors prisons,” according to Auburn alumna Sara Wood.
Wood spoke to students and faculty in the Student Center on Oct. 28.
Those who don’t have money to pay for fines for misdemeanors and speeding tickets, often fall prey to private probation companies that charge more than just the court fees and ticket fines in order to make a profit off of probationers, according to Wood.
Wood, through her work and experience as an economic justice advocate for the Southern Poverty Law Center, detailed ways private probation companies unconstitutionally treat impoverished people, which, in turn, reinforces poverty.
“But the tricky part is that when people begin to fall behind on payments, what happens?” Wood said. “Let’s remember who these people are that are sent to these probation companies. They are people who couldn’t originally afford to pay for these traffic tickets.”
If probationers fail to pay their fines to the probation companies, they are often times sent back to court and placed in jail, where they work to pay off the amount due.
Wood said this system is linked to the overarching issue of tax cuts—applicable to Alabama—which continue to inadequately support courts. The cuts cause courts to rely on defendants as the source of their budget instead.
However, judges aren’t investigating whether or not defendants can afford to pay their fines.
“A court can hold you in contempt if you don’t pay your fines if they find that you have the ability to pay your fines,” Wood said. “If you break the law, you have to suffer the consequences. But your consequences should not be different just because you’re living in poverty rather than not.”
Assessing the fee amount against a person’s income would create a better system, according to Wood.
Wood said students can make a difference simply by staying educated about issues like criminalization of poverty.
“To change things, to fix things, you actually have to know what the problem is in the first place,” Wood said.
Alisa Mobley, freshman in chemical engineering, said she came into the discussion knowing very little about the topic and the court system.
“If you can’t afford it, you can’t afford it,” Mobley said. “And I don’t think you should be penalized if you can’t afford it and you’re not really getting a clear chance to pay for it. I never really considered that you could be targeted that way, especially through a private company. Their whole goal is to make money from you and for you not to be able to pay it.”
Multicultural Center through the Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs hosted the presentation, which had more students in attendance than seats available.
Allen Sutton, director of the Multicultural Center, said the Center hosted the event to shed light on terms and issues about the working poor that presidential debates focus on.
“We try to hit a lot of different topics that would be important to students but also to get closer lens on some of the issues of society that affect minorities, underrepresented students and just the general population,” Sutton said.
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