Overcriminalization significantly undermines human flourishing and social well-being by harming the family, social networks, and social citizenship. Additionally, it prevents capable men and women from utilizing their creative capacities in the marketplace. This creates vast issues involving relations with family while incarcerated and reintegration into society after release. On the economic side, draconian cash bail systems undermine justice through basing someone's ability to attain pre-trial release upon their wealth, not their actual threat to society.
"The ruling should also reverberate beyond New Orleans. 'It’s particularly significant because it goes beyond addressing preset bail schedules or release in misdemeanor cases,' Wool explained. 'This is a comprehensive ruling'."
The Appeal
August 13, 2018
Read More"Barring an appeal, the ruling from U.S. District Judge Sarah Vance marks the end of a three-year legal battle over the so-called "debtors' prison" lawsuit brought by a handful of criminal convicts who were jailed for days or longer in Orleans Parish without a chance to prove they couldn't afford to pay the fines and fees they owed. "
The Advocate
August 3, 2018
Read More"While these laws threaten addicts with draconian penalties simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, they have done nothing to deter people from doing drugs or stem the tide of overdose deaths in the U.S."
Rolling Stone
August 2, 2018
Read More"To 'reduce re-offending, provide services for crime victims, and save taxpayers money,' the law provides for 70 percent of savings to be reinvested in programs to reduce recidivism and support victims. The other 30 percent of savings goes into Louisiana's general fund. With $12.2 million in savings, $8.5 million should go toward education, reentry programs, drug treatment and other programs to keep ex-inmates from returning to prison."
New Orleans Times-Picayune
July 11, 2018
Read More"Hundreds of people sit in the New Orleans jail awaiting trial on low level offenses simply because they cannot afford to pay cash bail. According to the Louisiana Department of Corrections, Orleans Parish and neighboring Jefferson Parish are two of the highest incarcerating parishes in the state and The Data Center study strongly suggests that Orleans cash bail bond practices is one of the contributors to New Orleans' high incarceration rate."
Right on Crime
June 13, 2018
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