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http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-the-ferguson-crisis-20140821-column.html
"By disproportionately stopping, charging, and fining the poor and
minorities, by closing the Courts to the public, and by incarcerating
people for the failure to pay fines, these policies unintentionally push
the poor further into poverty, prevent the homeless from accessing the
housing, treatment, and jobs they so desperately need to regain
stability in their lives, and violate the Constitution." And they
increase suspicion and disrespect for the system.
Tabarrok points
to the report's observation that the Ferguson court processed the
equivalent of three warrants and $312 in fines per household in 2013.
"You
don't get $321 in fines and fees and 3 warrants per household from an
about-average crime rate," he notes. "You get numbers like this from
[B.S.] arrests for jaywalking" and what the report calls "low level
harassment involving traffic stops, court appearances, high fines, and
the threat of jail for failure to pay without a meaningful inquiry into
whether an individual has the means to pay."
Why was Michael Brown originally stopped? Yes, for jaywalking.
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