Public Forum

As if life wasn't already tense enough for Americans who can't pay their debts, collection agencies are now taking advantage of archaic state laws to have some debtors arrested and sent to jail. http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-11-22/news/30427838_1_collection-agencies-big-house-debts

More than one-third of US states allow debtors to be arrested and jailed, says Jessica Silver-Greenberg in the Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203710704577052373900992432.html?mod=wsj_share_tweet

Judges typically grant arrest warrants when the debtors have failed to show up for court dates or failed to make court-ordered payments.

Of course, the reason debtors have failed to make court-ordered payments is often the same reason they didn't pay their debts in the first place: They don't have any money.

In September, a 53 year-old woman named Vivian Joy was stopped for a broken tail-light in Champaign, Illinois. And then, because the cops discovered that she still hadn't paid $2,200 to a collection agency, she was cuffed and carted off to jail.

Joy's excuse?

She doesn't have any money.

Jailing debtors for not paying their debts is apparently especially popular in Illinois.

(This practice, needless to say, is preposterous. If people can't pay their debts and have no prospect of being able to pay their debts, they should declare bankruptcy. And the debts should be written off. Companies don't go to jail when they default. Neither should people.)

4 Comments

Read the Rules

[-] 1 points by Skyglider9 (1) 12 years ago

A petition has been started on moveon.org to prevent the return of debtor’s prison in the USA. Once enough signatures are obtained, it will go to the US Congress and President Obama.

To sign the petition go to:

http://signon.org/sign/outlaw-the-return-of

↥twinkle ↧stinkle reply permalink

[-] 1 points by PandoraK (1678) 13 years ago

It's strange that one would presume that when a person (any person) is unable to repay a debt that a simple bankruptcy solves the issue.

Amounts under a certain dollar (it varies from state to state) are not considered worth the courts time and the filing is denied. Attorneys will not even consider such a filing.

Then there are filing costs, attorney fees, notification fees etc. For the debtor with just a few thousand on the books this costs as much if not more than the debt.

Since bankruptcy laws vary some what from place to place I've had to make this very generic, and yes I am aware there are some federal laws in place regarding bankruptcy.

Debtors prison...Half the country would inhabit one if all states practiced this.

↥twinkle ↧stinkle reply permalink

[-] 1 points by MonetizingDiscontent (1257) 13 years ago

::::::::::::America's Modern-Day Debtor's Prison::::::::::::

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/11/americas-modern-day-debtors-prison/249043/

-Nov 23 2011-

"....most people who don't pay their debts are people who have gotten themselves into a whole heap of trouble, one way or another, and can't pay their debts. They've gotten divorced, which has suddenly doubled the major expenses without also doubling the incomes of the former spouses. Or they've gotten sick, which means not just medical bills (these are often negotiable or in extremis, forgivable) but income loss and new ancillary expenses. They made the mistake of having a child with special needs. Or they lost a job because, in case you haven't noticed, the economy is not so good right now."

"Yes, they may have gotten to this place by some poor decision making about who to marry, what chemical substances or foods they put into their body, how much debt to take on relative to their income, or how much to save. But these decisions are legal--as they should be.

Are we really down to slapping cuffs on people because they unwisely decided to borrow too much money? If so, I'm with the progressives--we should also be heading down to the finance company and slapping cuffs on the guy who approved the loan. Fair is fair...."

::::::::Read the full article Here::::::::

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/11/americas-modern-day-debtors-prison/249043/

↥twinkle ↧stinkle reply permalink

[-] 1 points by MonetizingDiscontent (1257) 13 years ago

Think we'll see a Jon Corzine, or any of these fraudster bankers go to jail? naa, justice is only for the little guy. Justice is actually spelled J. u. s. t. U. s.

Pregnant Mother Arrested and has Three-Year-Old Daughter Taken Into Care For 18 Hours After Forgetting to Pay For $5 sandwich

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2055025/Couple-jailed-lose-custody-daughter-stolen-sandwiches.html#ixzz1erGPyiLI

(29th October 2011)

The Makiki resident told how she was abruptly parted with her daughter after a simple mistake, which was blown out of all proportion.

'We walked a long way to the grocery store and I was feeling faint, dizzy, like I needed to eat something so we decided to pick up some sandwiches and eat them while we were shopping,' she told KHON.

Mrs Leszczynski filled up the cart with her family and paid for $50 worth of groceries - but forgot about the $5 sandwich.

'It was a complete distraction, distracted parent moment,' she told the station.

Store security stopped them as they walked out and asked for their receipt, which was when the error was realised.

Rather than accept their offer to pay for the sandwich, the store manager called police and the couple were taken to the Hawaii Police Department's main station and arrested for fourth degree theft.

Zophia was taken into custody by Child Protective Services.

'When they notified us that they would have to take her because we both would be arrested, I just couldn't believe it,' she told KHON. 'She's never been away from us this long.'

::::::::Continue Reading this article Here::::::::

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2055025/Couple-jailed-lose-custody-daughter-stolen-sandwiches.html#ixzz1erH92C7y

↥twinkle ↧stinkle reply permalink

[Removed]