“As if out of a Charles Dickens novel, people struggling to pay overdue fines and fees associated with court costs for even the simplest traffic infractions are being thrown in jail across the United States. Critics are calling the practice the new ‘debtors’ prison’ — referring to the jails that flourished in the U.S. and Western Europe over 150 years ago. Advocates are trying to convince courts that aside from the legal questions surrounding the practice, it is disproportionately jailing poor people and doesn’t even boost government revenues — in fact, governments lose money in the process. Courts are dragging people in for fines and fees that have ballooned due to interest imposed on the initial sums.”
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