Alabama: For Offenders Who Can’t Pay, It’s a Pint of Blood or Jail Time
October 21st, 2015Harvest time.
Via: New York Times:
Judge Marvin Wiggins’s courtroom was packed on a September morning. The docket listed hundreds of offenders who owed fines or fees for a wide variety of crimes — hunting after dark, assault, drug possession and passing bad checks among them.
“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen,” began Judge Wiggins, a circuit judge here in rural Alabama since 1999. “For your consideration, there’s a blood drive outside,” he continued, according to a recording of the hearing. “If you don’t have any money, go out there and give blood and bring in a receipt indicating you gave blood.”
For those who had no money or did not want to give blood, the judge concluded: “The sheriff has enough handcuffs.”
Efforts by courts and local governments to generate revenue by imposing fines for minor offenses, particularly from poor and working-class people, have attracted widespread attention and condemnation in recent months. But legal and health experts said they could not think of another modern example of a court all but ordering offenders to give blood in lieu of payment, or face jail time. They all agreed that it was improper.
Giving blood is definitely community service. It certainly beats going to jail, plus I have recently read about how giving blood has some health benefits: raising testosterone levels, and lowering heavy metal levels are just 2. I guess whatever you have that is bad in your system is partially eliminated with the blood you donate, and then your body recreates “clean” blood, thus diluting the pollutants in your system. Sounds like a win-win to me.