How bail punishes the poor for their poverty, By Max Ehrenfreund, February 13, 2015, Washington Post: “Most of the controversy over crime and punishment in the United States has focused on how many people are in prison. You don’t hear as much about jails, and yet for most Americans the local jail is where they’re likely to experience the justice system. Far more Americans go to jail in a given year than to prison, although most of them have not been convicted of any crime. Then there are those with mental illnesses who simply don’t have other options. And increasingly, jail has become a de facto punishment for poverty, as the poor are forced to remain there in lieu of bail while awaiting trial…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty