4 ms·
When you say he faced "potential legal problems", what you really mean is that they were threatening to send him to jail, or if he failed to cooperate with the
by nickff 11y ago
When you say he faced "potential legal problems", what you really mean is that they were threatening to send him to jail, or if he failed to cooperate with the brave boys in blue, they would shoot him. Fines are enforced in essentially the same way: either pay, go to the small box, or die. It is unpleasant to describe things this way, but using euphemisms to assuage our consciences does not change the reality of the system we operate in.
- derefr 11y agoIs there a federal debtors' prison I'm unaware of? A fine from the government (when e.g. the sentence for a crime is a fine)—which you don't pay—turns into credit-score damage, liens and garnished wages; it does not turn into reduced freedom of movement/association.
- garrettgrimsley 11y agoYou can't be imprisoned for being unable to pay a fine, but you can be imprisoned for being unwilling to pay a fine. This goes back to Bearden v. Georgia in which the SCOTUS ruled >If the probationer has willfully refused to pay the fine or restitution when he has the resources to pay or has failed to make sufficient bona fide efforts to seek employment or borrow money to pay, the State is justified in using imprisonment as a sanction to enforce collection. [0] So yes, had Levinson refused to pay the fines imposed he could have been facing a prison sentence. You can easily find a plethora of news stories about people being imprisoned for failure to pay fines. [0] http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/461/660.html http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/461/660.html