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   From: black.lies.matter@abc.com   
      
   WASHINGTON, March 14 (UPI) -- The Department of Justice on   
   Monday pledged $2.5 million for efforts aimed at preventing   
   local courts in the United States from overcharging poor   
   defendants with fines and fees.   
      
   The agency announced it was sending a letter Monday morning to   
   courts in all 50 states, calling on judges and court   
   administrators nationwide to eliminate what it says are   
   unconstitutional policies that have kept poor people in a cycle   
   of fines, debt and jail, and advising how to properly levy fines   
   and fees.   
      
   The letter was penned by Vanita Gupta, head of the agency's   
   Civil Rights Division, and Lisa Foster, director of the Office   
   for Access to Justice.   
      
   "Individuals may confront escalating debt; face repeated,   
   unnecessary incarceration for nonpayment despite posing no   
   danger to the community; lose their jobs; and become trapped in   
   cycles of poverty that can be nearly impossible to escape,"   
   Gupta and Foster write. "Furthermore, in addition to being   
   unlawful, to the extent that these practices are geared not   
   toward addressing public safety, but rather toward raising   
   revenue, they can cast doubt on the impartiality of the tribunal   
   and erode trust between local governments and their   
   constituents."   
      
   The $2.5 million in grant funding is proposed for localities   
   with plans to "test strategies to restructure the assessment and   
   enforcement of fines and fees." The funding and letter come a   
   year after the Justice Department concluded that the Ferguson,   
   Mo., police department and court system ran a moneymaking fine   
   and fee program that appeared to disproportionately target   
   African-Americans.   
      
   Last year's Justice Departments report on Ferguson said African-   
   Americans make up about 67 percent of the city's population but   
   account for 85 percent of traffic stops, 90 percent of   
   citations, 93 percent of arrests and 88 percent of cases in   
   which use of force was used.   
      
   Black drivers in Ferguson were also twice as likely as white   
   drivers to be searched but less likely found to be in possession   
   of drugs or guns.   
      
   http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2016/03/14/Justice-Department-   
   warns-local-courts-against-fines-trapping-   
   poor/8801457960354/?spt=mps&or=4&sn=sn   
        
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)