If Rep. James White's HB 1125 - which forbids municipal courts and Justices of the Peace from issuing arrest warrants for fine-only off...
If Rep. James White's HB 1125 - which forbids municipal courts and Justices of the Peace from issuing arrest warrants for fine-only offenses - have been to grow to be legislation, this annual foolishness would finish:
Jailing defendants for Class C misdemeanor fines is about income technology, not public security. E.g., this is a latest story of a girl facing jail time for unpaid library fines in Victoria County. As Harris County DA Kim Ogg mentioned this week in another context, "It is unnecessary to spend public funds to accommodate misdemeanor offenders in a high-security penal facility when the crimes themselves could not advantage jail time. ... These safe beds and costly assets must be prioritized for the actually harmful offenders and 'flight dangers' who have to be separated from the group."
See a primer on debtors prison practices from the Marshall Venture.
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