Why in America being poor is like being a criminal

In the United States, the wild system of loans undertaken by the government has been taking place for years. Starting in its 90s, the country adopted a set of judicial criminal strategies condemning poor people for their poverty. Now in America, 10 million people, representing two thirds of all offenders in the country, owe the government a total of $50 billion.

The problem with high fines and counter-invasion” exists in many parts of the country: in most of its south; in states from Washington to Oklahoma, Colorado; and of course in Ferguson, Missouri, where Michael Brown was just killed, systematic criminalisation of the coloured poor brought these issues to national attention.

As a result, poor people lose their freedom, and often even their work, then their public benefits stop, lose custody of their children, and may even lose their right to vote. Migrants, even green cartons, can become subject to deportation. If poor people are imprisoned, unable to work, they are often sentenced to prison for the table and room they use. Many debtors will have debts even after their death.

Mass prison, which has disproportionally victimized colored people in the early 1970 ' s, presented the scene of criminalizing poverty. But understanding America's new impulse to make poverty a crime should be followed by the tax cuts during the Reagan era, which created revenue gaps in our country.

The anti-tax lobi told voters that they would get something in exchange for nothing: the state or municipality will tighten the belt slightly, take big money from low-level offenders, and everything will be fine.

Deep budget cuts followed, and the burden on paying our legal system was paid by courts to law enforcement agencies and even in government weapons began to fall on court users, including the poorest ones to pay for.

Too much fines and fees designed to fill income shortcomings have already become key element in most of the country. Meanwhile, white - collared criminals, millionaires, thus no longer suffer much for the destruction of millions of lives. Although wealthy offenders owe $450 billion in taxes, fines and fees to the justice system mostly strikes those who receive at least $450, especially the most colored ones.

Law empowerment policy “Broken Windows” [q. Broken windows... the idea of a mass arrest for minor violations meant to promote community order helped and supported this criminalisation of the poor, making police accomplices in the victimisation of the poor. Community police turned into a community robbery. Emphasizing the quality of life, order was defended as a way to achieve civil calm and prevent more serious crimes. What this actually did was fill prisons with poor people, especially because those arrested could not pay bail.

Budget cuts and new criminalisation have caused other atrocities as well. Women in poor communities can only be punished for calling 911 too often to seek protection from domestic abuse.

Children of public schools, especially in poor communities of colored people, have been arrested and taken to juvenile prison and, at times, even in courts to overcome their former behaviors and who were once merely reproved. The use of the law to criminalise the homeless and expel them completely from cities only has increased, while municipalities take even greater punishment measures through budgetary cuts in housing and other services.

People with small incomes are also intimidated by the search for public profits by the threat of sanctions that could be plagued by accusations of profit fraud. While elected officials have moved to the right, the laws do not require assistance. Budgetary cuts have also led to worsening mental health and dependence on services, again with a special impact on minorities and poor people.

Racism is the original sin of America, and it is present in all areas of criminalization, whether through discrimination, structural racism, and institutional or prejudice. Together, poverty and racism have created a toxic mix that ridicules our democratic rhetoric of equal opportunities and equal protection before the law.

The movement to fight is expressing signs of development. Organisers and some public officials are attacking mass detentions, lawyers are challenging the constitutionality of prisoners' debts, judicial leaders are calling for fines and correct tariffs, lawyers are demanding the abolition of destructive laws, more prosecutors and local officials are applying the law more correctly, while journalists are media covering all that is happening.

The Department of Justice in Obama's administration increased tensions to a large number of fronts. Ferguson was a spark that made isolated instances of activists on a national subject and produced numerous examples of partnership between lawyers and decision-makers.

Now we have to turn all that into one move. The ultimate goal, of course, is to end poverty itself. But as we pursue that purpose, we must remove the unjust laws and practices that imprison and harm the lives of millions. We have to fight mass imprisonment and criminalisation of the poor in any country where it exists, and fight poverty as well.

We should be organized into neighbourhoods and communities, in cities and states and as nations as well. And we have to empower people who need themselves as the most important tool for change. No.