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Full-Text Articles in Law
Pretextual Sanctions, Contempt, And The Practical Limits Of Bearden-Based Debtors' Prison Litigation, Colin Reingold
Pretextual Sanctions, Contempt, And The Practical Limits Of Bearden-Based Debtors' Prison Litigation, Colin Reingold
Michigan Journal of Race and Law
At the time of this writing, recent events in Ferguson, Baltimore, New York City, and elsewhere have triggered quite justified social outrage at debtors’ prisons. Our country’s state and city courts keep scores of indigent people in jail for the crime of being poor, despite the Supreme Court’s clear prohibition on the practice. Skilled litigators and their journalist allies have seized on the moment to win victories in court and in the public eye, which prevent unconscionable bond and probation practices and try to reduce our burgeoning jail populations. Lost in the uproar, though, are the many ways that a …
The Charleston Policy: Substance Or Abuse?, Kimani Paul-Emile
The Charleston Policy: Substance Or Abuse?, Kimani Paul-Emile
Michigan Journal of Race and Law
In 1989, the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) adopted a policy that, according to subjective criteria, singled out for drug testing, certain women who sought prenatal care and childbirth services would be tested for prohibited substances. Women who tested positive were arrested, incarcerated and prosecuted for crimes ranging from misdemeanor substance possession to felony substance distribution to a minor. In this Article, the Author argues that by intentionally targeting indigent Black women for prosecution, the MUSC Policy continued the United States legacy of their systematic oppression and resulted in the criminalizing of Black Motherhood.