This is supposed to be a feel-good story.
Judges Are Refusing to Jail People Who Can’t Pay Fines, Choosing Community Service Instead
Municipal Judge Ed Spillane refuses to send people to jail simply because they can’t afford to pay fines or court fees. Instead, he’s looking for creative alternatives and urging his fellow judges to do the same.
That sounds okay, but the brief article spends ten paragraphs sobbing about the homeless before it gets around to mentioning what the ‘creative alternative’ actually is…
The court couldn’t collect the money, but Wheeldin prevented Burress from going to jail. He ordered him to spend 25 hours doing community service to pay off the bill, a win-win for the county.
A win for the county, no doubt. More like indentured servitude for this guy Burress. For a bullshit traffic ticket.
Okay, it’s possible this isn’t the most horrible thing ever done by the government that brought us Japanese internment camps and the electric chair. I’m impressed it’s presented as a brilliant hallmark of goodness and light, is all.
If yer homeless, going to jail (i.e., roof overhead, three hots and a cot) might be slightly preferable to community service picking up roadside trash outside in the nasty sun.
Meanwhile in Italy…
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36190557
When is a crime, not a crime? When you really, *really* want to do it!
Very generous with other people’s money those Italian judges are (but they’re hardly unique in that, alas).