Justice Department Discourages States From Jailing Criminal Defendants Who Don’t Pay Court-Ordered Fines

The Justice Department says poor people should not be thrown in jail for failing to fines and fees imposed by state court systems.

FOX’s Rachel Sutherland reports from Washington:

The Justice Department is discouraging states from jailing criminal defendants who don’t pay court-ordered fines. The new guidance comes after a report found the Ferguson police department and court system routinely issued arrest warrants for failure to pay fines.

In a letter to local courts in all 50 states, the head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division wrote that “Individuals may confront escalating debt; face repeated, unnecessary incarceration for nonpayment despite posing no danger to the community; lose their jobs; and become trapped in cycles of poverty that can be nearly impossible to escape”.

In Washington, Rachel Sutherland, FOX News.