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Money Bail
Private Bail Companies
Suspended Driver Licenses
Excessive Mandatory Minimum Sentences
Wealth-Based Banishment That Outlaws Low-Income Housing
Private Probation Abuses
Parking Tickets to Debtors' Prison
Sex Offense Registration Laws

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Money Bail

We currently have two justice systems: one for the rich and another for everybody else. For hundreds of thousands of arrestees every year, the difference between freedom and jail depends solely on wealth status. A wealthy person can buy their pre-trial freedom, keep their job, and live at home while preparing their defense. An arrestee who is poor must stay in jail for days, weeks, months, or years until their case resolves. Those detained prior to trial are more likely to lose their jobs, get evicted from their homes, and be unable to care for dependent relatives. The money bail system does nothing to promote liberty, public safety, or court appearance rates; all of these goals can be better achieved through other means, and needless pretrial detention actually increases crime rates. Money bail is a price tag on freedom that only serves as wealth-based discrimination.

Private Bail Companies

Private bail companies exacerbate the inequality caused by pretrial money bail. Those wealthy enough to pay their full bail amount get it back when their case ends - even if they are found guilty. But those who cannot afford their full bail amount (often over six figures) must contract with a private bail company to pay 10% - which can be tens of thousands of dollars - and that money is never returned. Those who can't afford to pay 10% can be placed under predatory debt agreements with extortionate interest, creating a debt that will take years to pay off and take money away from basic amenities such as food, shelter, and transportation. In many cases, private bail companies continue to abuse impoverished individuals long after their criminal case has been resolved. Even when the charges have been dismissed and an arrestee has been fully exonerated, private bail companies violate law and ethics through predatory techniques to secure payments.

Suspended Drivers Licenses

In 38 states, an individual can lose their driver's license if they cannot afford to pay their court debt, even for minor offenses like littering that have nothing to do with traffic safety. A valid driver's license is the single most important factor in getting and maintaining a job. Residents with suspended licenses are even further burdened by not being able to fulfill daily responsibilities like caring for children, making doctor's appointments, getting to the grocery store, and commuting to work. Without a license, everything becomes more expensive, as individuals are forced to pay for rides just to tend to the necessities of living. The government is trapping people in a cycle of poverty, making it even more unlikely that they will ever pay back the court debt that led to the suspension in the first place.

Excessive Mandatory Minimum Sentences

Proactive police practices - such as stop and frisk and broken window policies - disproportionately target minority and low-income neighborhoods. Whether it is a vindictive federal prosecution of a rural Native American family using medical marijuana or state prosecution of an amount of marijuana that is legal within the city limits - mandatory minimum punishments for victimless crimes are disproportionately directed at people living in poverty. Such individuals are easy targets for overzealous prosecutors: unable to afford legal counsel and aware of the catastrophic results of getting fired, people experiencing poverty lack the tools to effectively fight back. When someone is imprisoned for years or decades because of a victimless crime, the entire community suffers from the loss of a parent, sibling, co-worker, or employee.

Among the many tools prosecutors have to exact astonishingly long prison sentences, conspiracy drug laws are often misused to sentence those with little or no involvement in criminal activity - most often women who are the wives or sisters of suspects - to disproportionately harsh prison sentences. Women are frequently coerced, under the threat of mandatory minimum sentences, into testify against their loved ones in exchange for a plea bargain, and those who are unable to provide information on family members are sent to prison for decades. Because of mandatory minimum sentencing, innocent women spend far too long in prison.

Wealth-Based Banishment That Outlaws Low-Income Housing

In a particularly cruel version of the NIMBY effect (Not In My Back Yard), small towns in Arkansas and elsewhere prohibit the existence of homes within the city limits that are worth less than an arbitrary amount of money (sometimes $25,000, $15,000, or even $7,500). These ordinances have nothing to do with public health or safety but are an ill-disguised attempt to drive people experiencing poverty out of what modest shelter they have. These discriminatory laws banishing manufactured homes can result in already burdened individuals becoming homeless once they lose the only housing available to them.

Regulations to ensure that homes have potable water, safe sewage disposal, electricity, and functioning heat make sense. Regulations that use money as a proxy for these necessities are merely another form of wealth-based discrimination.

Private Probation Abuses

As our justice system gets more and more privatized, private probation companies have become one of the leading culprits for violating constitutional rights. The number of people on probation or parole is now higher than ever, and hundreds of thousands of individuals report to a private probation company. Counties are laying off their public probation officers and allowing private companies to earn profits from the citizenry. Too often, these private companies do not provide needed rehabilitation services - such as help locating jobs or housing - and instead they threaten probationers with jail to squeeze out exorbitant "probation fees." Such practices destabilize housing, employment, and family relationships, and result in thousands of people going to jail simply because they are too poor to pay a private company. Such wealth-based discrimination has no place in our justice system.

Parking Tickets to Debtors' Prison

Across the country, thousands of people are unconstitutionally jailed simply for being poor. States pile on fines and fees, even when it is clear that the person is simply too poor to pay. The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that someone cannot be punished for being poor. If a person genuinely cannot pay a debt to the state, then the state must find an alternate solution, such as community service, a payment plan, or reduction in the fine itself. Nevertheless, many states ignore longstanding constitutional precedent and jail people for fines they cannot pay, resulting in modern-day debtors' prisons. The collateral damage to employment, child care, or education makes debtors' prisons a tremendous - and unconstitutional - barrier to climbing out of the cycle of poverty.

Sex Offense Registration Laws

Almost every state has a sex offense registration law that leads to homelessness and unemployment, increasing the risk factors that can lead to recidivism. More and more evidence is pointing to the conclusion that excessively punitive sex offense registration laws impose draconian lifelong punishment on thousands of people who pose no special risk. An estimated 900,000 individuals are on state registries, from those who committed offenses decades ago to "Romeo and Juliet" sexual encounters between teenagers. State laws that prohibit those convicted of a sex offense from living or working near a school or daycare (even if their offense had nothing to do with a child) drive people out of towns and cities and away from employment, family, and community support. One of our clients is forced to live under a bridge, rather than with his wife or brother, because their homes are both within a massive zone of exclusion - as is 80% of the entire city. Registry laws drive people into a cycle of poverty.

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8 Examples of Injustice - Equal Justice Under Law

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We currently have two justice systems: one for the rich and another for everybody else. For hundreds of thousands of arrestees every year, the difference between freedom and jail depends solely on wealth status. A wealthy person can buy their pre-trial freedom, keep their job, and live at home while preparing their defense.

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Examples of Injustices

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For progressives, this relates to social justice - the idea that people who lack certain rights/opportunities/status/ etc or who are victims of injustice are owed remedy/restoration by the larger society. The obligation is not necessarily one that needs to be personally acted out but may be a collective one to which people contribute through taxes, contributions, and support for policies.

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Reflecting the belief associated with a liberal/progressive perspective that individual citizens/persons living in our society have obligations not only to themselves and their families and whoever/whatever group is in their personal zone of care, but also to the larger society of people they do not know personally but with whom they share the social connection of co-citizen/co-member. For progressives, this relates to social justice - the idea that people who lack certain rights/opportunities/status/ etc or who are victims of injustice are owed remedy/restoration by the larger society. The obligation is not necessarily one that needs to be personally acted out but may be a collective one to which people contribute through taxes, contributions, and support for policies. The concept can apply to corporations seen as community/society members owing duties of concern to their "neighbors" or society - hence the growth of "corporate responsibility" efforts aimed at local charities, social investments, environmental efforts (not legally mandated) etc.

Like the word social justice, others see social responsibility as another code word for progressive attempts to remake America's social contract with more central emphasis on government itself. Similar to how compassion is sometimes used to describe only progressive attempts at relieving poverty or reaching out to minorities, conservatives point out that there are multiple ways to act in a socially responsible way - not all of which center on government sponsored assistance. Many conservatives are more comfortable with religion and civil efforts to enact social responsibility towards the poor, the sick, etc. Others express concerns that social responsibility can impinge on individual liberty - and that one's zone of care should be up to each individual - rather than an external entity (whether religious or governmental) dictating it with no obligation or moral imperative that demands it.

There are a growing movement of " Bleeding Heart Libertarians" who are also inspired by social justice arguments (including the philosopher John Rawls) but who believe that much of government activity serves to diminish social justice rather than increase it. As a consequence, they argue for reductions in government on the grounds of social justice. Examples include eliminating subsidies for big business, banking and finance; reducing occupational licensing which disproportionately reduces opportunities for the poor and marginalized; school choice initiatives which often disproportionately benefit the poor and marginalized; and addressing mass incarceration which disproportionately impacts minorities.
QUESTIONS TO PLAY WITH:
-What does social responsibility mean to you?

-In your view, does the term social responsibility a conservative or liberal agenda? Does it imply a specific mechanism (government or religious or otherwise) by which the social responsibility is enacted?

-How can we determine whether or not government action is a net benefit or a net harm to the least privileged members of society?

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Social Responsibility and Social Justice

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Reflecting the belief associated with a liberal/progressive perspective that individual citizens/persons living in our society have obligations not only to themselves and their families and whoever/whatever group is in their personal zone of care, but also to the larger society of people they do not know personally but with whom they share the social connection of co-citizen/co-member.

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Social Responsibility relating to Social justice

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Social justice entails human rights promotion To secure and ensure respect of these and other related rights, the society has agreed upon a number of conventions, laws and regulations to abide with. It is the Government role to guarantee social justice through the enforcement of these.

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Governments Role In Social Justice

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Environmental justice handles the division of environmental benefits and people troubles at home, at work or where they spend most of the time.

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Social justice focuses on individuals social and economic beliefs. As well as the idea to promote fair distribution of advantages and disadvantages within mankind regardless of stature and background.

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Social and environmental justice - Forest Research

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How social and environmental justice affects how people from different social groups use and access green space

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Social and Environmental Justice

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- Racial
- Gender
- Age
-Ethnicity
-Sexuality
-Class
- Wealth

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Social Injustice: Discrimination

Social injustice can be described as a situation in which dominant population is made known of the inequity that leads for others due to their relative position in the structure of power (Maus n.p.). Social injustice is also the way unjust actions are done in the society. Social injustice occurs in a situation where the equals are treated unequally and the unequal is treated equally. Three common examples of social injustice include: discrimination, ageism, and homophobia (Farooq n.p.). I want to focus on discrimination, its causes, and the solutions of discrimination.

Discrimination is found in education, housing, employment, voting, lending and credit, land use, health care services, transportation, public accommodations, and government benefits and services (Find Law n.p.). Discrimination is described as unequal treatment of persons, for a reason which has nothing to do with legal rights or ability. Discrimination is considered illegal by the federal and state laws of the United States of America. These laws prohibit discrimination in employment, availability of housing, rates of pay, right to promotion, educational opportunity, civil rights, and use of facilities based on race, nationality, creed, color, age, sex, or sexual orientation (K. Hill and G. Hill n.p.). Discrimination always promotes or reveals unfair treatment of a person or a particular group of people on the basis of prejudice and partiality which could lead to emotions such as frustration and anger. Discrimination seen or considered as a mild or serious form of suffering, with anger sometimes, in particular, if applicable, anger at the person or persons who caused it. (U.K. Essay n.p.). This is why discrimination is considered or seen as a social injustice issue in our society today.

A census data was conducted by the researchers at Brown University which found that income is not the only driving factor in the separation of races or ethnic groups in U.S. cities. Minority groups at every income level live in poorer neighborhoods than do whites with comparable incomes. White people have the advantage or better chances of living in better neighborhoods than people from other races. The study also shows that there are fewer resources for those in minority neighborhoods (Goyette and Scheller n.p.). Another study done in the state of Arizona shows during the years of 2006 to 2007, the state highway patrol was more likely to stop African Americans and Hispanic drivers than white drivers on all the highways that were studied. Native Americans and people of Middle Eastern descent were more likely to be stopped on most of all the highways studied. The highway patrol was 3.5 times more likely to search a Native American than a white individual, and 2.5 times more likely to search a stopped African American or Hispanic driver (The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights n.p.).

The Injustice at Every Turn survey revealed that twenty-five percent of transgender recipients reported losing a job because they did not conform to gender norms. A staggering ninety percent said they faced some forms of transgender-based discrimination. In 2008, a survey by the Injustice at Every Turn also showed that the amount of unemployed transgender respondent was two times the rate of the entire population used and they were more likely to get a wage of less than ten thousand dollars compared to the rest of the population in the survey conducted (Paquette n.p.). The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) fielded 16,008 charges of age discrimination in 2000 and 23,264 in 2010, which was more than forty-five percent increase. The EEOC helped obtain settlements of $45.2 million in 2000 and $93.6 million in 2010, which was more than a hundred percent increase. Numbers of legation trended in the same ways and resulted in far greater costs to business, both in fees and damages paid (Smith Moore Leatherwood n.p.).

Stereotypes is a cause of discrimination, because one might not think about the stereotypes or prejudices a person holds might hurt or put other people to disadvantage without the person realizing or knowing. People, sometimes, think that they are simply behaving in ways that actually reflect the realities or abilities of a group men and women, rather they are actually discriminating and promoting inequality in the society. A stereotype is seems positive, the fact that not all persons in that group always meets the standard that often leads to a positive stereotype, which disadvantages individuals in that group (Gender Equality n.p.). Greenwald and Pettigrew reviewed experiments and survey methods from published scientific research on discrimination from the last five decades. They found that the discrimination observed in those studies occurred much more often as helping rather than harming someone. They also found that most researchers defined discrimination as based on negative attitudes and hostility, only rarely treating favoritism as a component of discrimination (Armstrong n.p.).

Discrimination is not caused by what happens outside of us. It is caused by seeing things wrongly, what is said to from one to another, commonly referred to as self-talk, and also thoughts or beliefs. When one talks his or herself into becoming anxious, annoyed or angry, because they don't know something or lack understanding about some thing or someone else, or are scared. Quickly, it leads one into a mind-set of discrimination or prejudice (Griffith n.p.). Discrimination is also promoted by patriarchal cultural beliefs. These beliefs usually encourage discrimination by thinking of male gender to be of greater importance than that of females. These beliefs tense describes men with more positive attributes, like being stronger or smarter. Usually men occupy the higher positions and have power to decide the amount of access women have to opportunities, from education and playing sports, to participating in politics and making independent choices about their personal lives (Kidder n.p.).

One way to treat discrimination is to have government intervention discrimination, because federal laws of the United States prohibit discrimination based on a person's country of origin, race, color, religion, disability, sex, and familial status. Laws prohibiting national origin discrimination deem discrimination or discriminatory acts illegal because of a person's birthplace, ancestry, culture or language (The United States Department of Justice n.p.). The state government also has the power to make laws prohibiting people from discriminatory acts. Many states enacted laws that ban any and all forms of discrimination. Specifically, six states have passed ballot initiatives in order to amend their constitutions and prohibit state and local governments from portraying discrimination in public, contract making, and educational aspects on the basis of race, ethnicity, or sex. These states include California in 1996, Washington in 1998, Michigan in 2006, Nebraska in 2008, Arizona in 2010, and Oklahoma in 2012 (Clegg and von Spavosky n.p.).

Another way to eradicate discrimination is to promote diversity in our society. Diversity was introduced as a kind of end run around the historical problem of racism, the commitment to diversity is associated with the struggle against racism. The objective of eradication or treating racism is to create a color-blind society rather and having a color-conscious society. Instead of treating people as if their race does not matter, we should not only recognize but celebrate racial identity (Michaels). Cultural diversity is important, because workplaces, and schools increasingly consist of various cultural, racial, and ethnic groups which we could learn from. Learning about other cultures helps understand different perspectives within the world in which we find ourselves in, dispelling negative stereotypes and personal biases about different groups or ethnicities. In addition, cultural diversity helps us recognize and respect other cultures. It also makes our country a more interesting place to reside, because people from diverse cultures or contribute to our language skills, thought process, knowledge, and experiences (Belfield n.p.).

In spreading diversity, there could be a problem with lack of understanding between parties or people. A person cannot simply put a group of people together with vast differences and expect them to cooperate with each other immediately. Many people find cultures to be strange and have never had to live or habit and work together with people from completely different backgrounds or cultures. Diverse work groups often experience more conflict compared to groups that share or have more similarities (Kokemuller n.p.). It is completely normal for people to find new things uncomfortable at first. Every person builds their own idea of comfort, people can become uncomfortable when confronted with examples of people that go against how he or she sees or thinks about the world. Whether because of sexual orientation, race, religion, or any other factors that make people differ from each other, people can still struggle in their place of work to be effective as possible (Advice America n.p.).

Problems still arise from government intervention in discrimination which includes the use of affirmative action. Affirmative action is a semi-regulated policy created by the executive orders of President John F. Kennedy to provide equal opportunities for groups amongst discriminated minorities. However, affirmative action tense to lessen the value of the accomplishments by minorities, because affirmative action gives preference to groups instead of their accomplishments, experiences, and qualifications of individuals who might be in the minority group. As a result, affirmative action becomes less productive for the society (Phil for Humanity n.p.).

Discrimination prevent equal treat, therefore, it hurts the society. Discrimination has existed for a long time and it needs to be ended so that we could live together in peace with equality. The eradication of discrimination is not an easy task to accomplish due to the problems that arise from discrimination and the time taken to solve it. In order to eradicate discrimination, the help of every single person is needed. This is not a task for one person or a group of people to achieve.

References

"5 Advantages and Disadvantages of Diversity in the Workplace." Advise America: Sales Training And Management Mag., AdviceAmerica.com, 2015. Web. 20 Nov. 2015.

"Age Discrimination in the Workplace." Smith Moore Law, Smith Moore Leatherwood LLP. 8 Mar. 2011, Web. 19 Nov. 2015.

Armstrong, Doree. "Favoritism, Not Hostility, Causes Most Discrimination, Says UW Psychology Professor." UW Today. University of Washington, 19 May 2014. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.

Belfield, Lisa D. "Cultural Diversity: Imagine All the People." Kaplan University. Kaplan Higher Education, Web. 20 Nov. 2015.

Clegg, Roger, and Hans A. von Spavosky, "What States Can Do to Stop Racial Discrimination- States Push Back: Models for Reform" The Heritage Foundation. 11 Feb. 2014. Web. 20 Nov. 2015.

"Federal Protections against National Origin Discrimination." The United States Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, 6 Aug. 2015. Web. 20 Nov. 2015.

Farooq, Umar. "Social Injustice Definition, Issues and Example." Study Lecture Notes. 7 May 2015. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.

Goyette, Braden, and Alissa Scheller. "15 Charts that prove we're Far From Post-Racial." The Huffington Post. 27 Mar. 2015. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.

Griffiths, Peter. "Discrimination Is Ignorance." Saskatchewan Libraries. Saskatchewan Provincial Library, 13 Mar. 1997. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.

Hill, Kathleen and Gerald. "Legal Dictionary: Discrimination" Fine Communications, Web. 19 Nov. 2015.

Kidder, Nicole. "Causes & Effects of Gender Discrimination." EHow. Demand Media, Web. 19 Nov. 2015.

Kokemuller, Neil. "What Is Diversity and How Does It Impact Work?" Small Business. Demand Media, Web. 20 Nov. 2015.

Maus, Michaelis "What Is the Definition of Social Injustice?" 17 Sept. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.

Michaels, Walter Benn. "The Trouble with Diversity." The American Prospect. 13 Aug. 2006. Web. 20 Nov. 2015.

Paquette, Danielle. "8 Critical Facts about the State of Transgender America." Washington Post.com. The Washington Post, 22 Jan. 2015 Web. 19 Nov. 2015.

"Stereotypes and Prejudice." Gender Equality. GSI Marketing and Communication, Web. 29 Nov. 2015

"The Pros and Cons of Affirmative Action." Phil for Humanity. Web. 25 Nov. 2015.

"The Reality of Racial Profiling." The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. The Leadership Conference Education Fund, Web. 19 Nov. 2015.

"What Are the Effects of Discrimination on the Society Philosophy Essay." UKEssays.com, Nov. 2013. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.

"What Is Discrimination?" Find Law. Thomson Reuters, Web. 20 Nov. 2015.

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Social Injustice: Discrimination Social injustice can be described as a situation in which dominant population is made known of the inequity that leads for others due to their relative position in the structure of power (Maus n.p.). Social injustice is also the way unjust actions are done in the society.

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Stereotypes Related to Injustices

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In 1991, an unemployed printer named David Ranta was convicted of killing a Hasidic rabbi in Brooklyn.

Last week, Ranta was released from the maximum-security prison in which he'd spent nearly 22 years, after almost every piece of evidence used to convict him fell away. The New York Times reported that the lead detectives on the case "broke rule after rule" - they "kept few written records, coached a witness and took Mr. Ranta's confession under what a judge described as highly dubious circumstances."

Last Friday, just a day after he was released, Ranta suffered a serious heart attack.

With Ranta's case in mind, we've rounded up some of the best reporting on wrongful convictions.
CASE FLAWS
The Hardest Cases: When Children Die, Justice Can Be Elusive, ProPublica, June 2011
Our 2011 investigation with Frontline and NPR found mistakes made by coroners and medical examiners led to the wrongful conviction of numerous babysitters, parents and others for murdering children. Ernie Lopez may be one such case: he was convicted for murdering a 6-month-old girl, despite evidence that later suggested she may have died from a rare blood disease. (Lopez later agreed to a plea deal for a reduced charge.)

Death Row Justice Derailed, The Chicago Tribune, November 1999
The first part of an epic investigation by Ken Armstrong and Steve Mills of how Illinois had sent innocent men to death row. "Capital punishment in Illinois," Armstrong and Mills reported, "is a system so riddled with faulty evidence, unscrupulous trial tactics and legal incompetence that justice has been forsaken, a Tribune investigation has found." The series helped convince Gov. George Ryan to put a moratorium on the death penalty in Illinois the next year, which remains in effect today.
DNA EVIDENCE
Who Shot Valerie Finley?, Boston Review, March 2013
An examination of convictions overturned by DNA testing found three-quarters involved mistaken eyewitness identification. The Boston Review examines the case against Rodney Stanberry, accused of shooting 29-year-old Valerie Finley. Finley identified Stanberry as her shooter after awaking in the hospital from a coma. Stanberry was convicted, despite an alibi corroborated by at least six other testimonies. But without DNA evidence, his innocence has been nearly impossible to prove.
AFTER INCARCERATION Did we miss any important investigations? Let us know in the comments below.

Theodoric Meyer was ProPublica's reporting fellow. He was previously an intern at The New York Times and The Seattle Times.

Christie Thompson was an intern at ProPublica. She studied journalism at Northwestern University, and has written for The Nation, The Chicago Reporter and TheAtlantic.com.

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Criminal Injustice: The Best Reporting on Wrongful Convictions (#MuckReads) - ProPublica

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In 1991, an unemployed printer named David Ranta was convicted of killing a Hasidic rabbi in Brooklyn. Last week, Ranta was released from the maximum-security prison in which he'd spent nearly 22 years, after almost every piece of evidence used to convict him fell away.

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Unlawful Injustices