Im not a conspiracyist, nor am I anything like a libertarian, but the second half of this Times story today tells a chilling story of a dystopian, apartheid-like function of speed cameras in poor black neighborhoods around St. Louis. The way it works, as I understand it, is this. Speed cameras have been put up extensively in these areas. (I myself have seen speed cameras in Chicago neighborhoods flash like paparrazi following (the) behind (of) Iggy Azalea.) Folk get $100 tickets that they cant afford and they avoid paying them. The tickets get compounded in the judicial system with exponential fines, impoundment notices, etc., until the accumulation exceeds $1000, at which time an arrest warrant can be issued. Then these unfortunates eventually get pulled over -- sometimes allegedly for nothing but profiling, since the cops know that in many instances people driving cheap cars in these neighborhoods have warrants -- and, lo and behold, they end up in jail. They end up making the rounds, doing the muni-shuffle, dancing the jail-hop. Talk a quick look at these graphs: “I cannot bring you money when you’re hindering me from getting money, and it’s all going to lead to me being in jail [one St. Louis man] said, adding that he recently showed up in Maplewood to sort out a traffic warrant, was put into handcuffs and then released and told to return to court. Do I have $127? No, I have zero dollars. Sherry Melson, an owner of Bad Apple Bail Bonds in St. Louis County, sees these cases all the time. She says for many who are stopped the choice was between paying a ticket or paying rent. If you do not pay and are caught, she said, “you’re making the rounds.” “Making the rounds,” the “muni-shuffle,” the “jail hop”: Talk to a young black man in northern St. Louis County and he knows what this is. When someone is stopped on a warrant in any of the municipalities in north St. Louis County, he knows he is going to jail everywhere he has a warrant for an unpaid traffic ticket. Whether the full amount of the fine — often in addition to hundreds of dollars in fees — is still due after a few days in jail is up to the judge. You sit in jail for a week and you get out and you still owe it, said Brandon Ghoston, 33, who works at a car dealership and has done the rounds himself.
Posted on: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 02:05:30 +0000
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