Three new bills before California lawmakers aim to end practices within the justice system that some groups argue amount to the criminalization of poverty.
Debt Free Justice California is a coalition of legal advocates, policy experts and movement-building organizations working to advance racial and economic justice.
Brandon Greene, director of policy advocacy for the Western Center on Law and Poverty, said Assembly Bill 2121 would stop courts from issuing bench warrants that allow police to arrest people who fail to appear in court for infractions that aren’t a jailable offense.
“So it gets people caught up within the criminal legal system for things that are very minor,” he said, “and it costs more money for courts and other entities to be trying to enforce it.”
A second proposal, Assembly Bill 2428, would abolish certain administrative costs that advocates say push families into debt. This would include fees for bounced checks and fees to enter into a payment plan or participate in community service.
Opponents of the bill have said the fees are necessary to cover costs, but Greene argued that lawmakers just put these fees back into the justice system, so they don’t have to pass politically unpopular tax increases.
He called the fees unfair, adding they disproportionately affect low-income communities of color.
“We characterize these fees as racialized wealth extraction,” he said, “because oftentimes, these fees are utilized to fund services that should be funded by the state, not on the backs of poor Black and brown Californians.”
A third bill, Senate Bill 498, would stop California’s jails and prisons from charging a per-minute fee for video visits and electronic messaging systems.
Spanish Photo Caption: Proyectos de ley para prohibir las órdenes de arresto por falta de pago o comparecencia ante el tribunal por infracciones menores, y para eliminar algunas tasas judiciales administrativas, fueron aprobados recientemente por el Comité de Seguridad Pública de la Asamblea Estatal. Photo Credit: Freepik
