PBS NewsHour Covers The Return Of Debtors Prisons

PBS NewsHour
Dec. 30, 2014

The entire court system in this country exploits the same scam on an even bigger level, i.e. if police and prosecutors charge you with a host of serious crimes the cost of defending yourself can be so prohibitively high it's usually preferable to plead guilty and take a plea deal rather than fight, despite your innocence.

As to the issue of government "privatization," it's a particularly insidious scam. While I support the idea of a private law society in which there is no government, the last thing I want is an efficiently run government. Imagine a world in which every stupid law and every evil politician's whim was actually enforced, it would be an Orwellian nightmare beyond anything Eric Blair nor the most imaginative dystopian writer could dream up.

Think if intellectual property laws were to be efficiently enforced, it would require a total surveillance state and people would be fined and potentially imprisoned for every unauthorized singing of the "happy birthday" song, already restaurants are forbidden from singing it on their own, imagine the same ridiculousness applied to every copyrighted, patented idea in existence, with no escape. - Chris, InfoLibCities across the country are increasingly turning to what are known as private probation companies to collect unpaid fines. But are indigent people ending up in jail because they can't afford to pay? Since NewsHour Weekend's first story on this issue aired last spring, the Childersburg Municipal Court issued a “standing order” stating that “In no case shall an indigent defendant be incarcerated … based solely on his or her inability to pay fines.” But the practice continues elsewhere in the country. Special correspondent John Carlos Frey takes an in-depth look at what some are calling the return of the debtors' prison.