Jordan Morris
93 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. Arguendo 87
The 1983 Supreme Court case Bearden v. Georgia held unconstitutional the practice of jailing defendants for nonpayment of court-mandated legal debt without first determining that the nonpayment was willful. For those buried under criminal justice debt and unable to pay, the holding in Bearden functions as a barrier to imprisonment for nonpayment of legal debt. Under the current interpretation of the law, however, Bearden’s protections fail to prevent jurisdictions from imposing fines, user fees, and interest upon indigent defendants solely because the defendant is unable to pay. Unexplored is the ability of the Bearden precedent to limit the imposition of post-conviction monetary punishments, such as poverty penalties imposed in the context of repayment plans for legal financial obligations.
This Note argues that the Bearden ruling requires courts to make a finding of willful nonpayment before imposing monetary sanctions upon defendants for the use of a payment plan or for late payments. This Note then argues that Congress should both prohibit such practices through federal legislation and create a federal spending scheme providing federal funding for court administration and court systems technology, the receipt of which is conditioned on a state’s compliance with higher standards for ability-to-pay determinations and debt collection practices.
