But if the alternative was a long prison sentence, he was still being pressured into it. It's still exploitative and coercive.

It doesn't matter if he accepted the deal or not, governments shouldn't be offering this kind thing at all.

This feels really wrong to me. I don't think the state should have the power to sterilize someone as part of a criminal offense. I mean, having a bunch of kids with different women isn't a crime! I might make him sit through a safe sex lecture, give him pamphlets on how to avail himself of reproductive health services…

One can only hope you do not pursue a career in jurisprudence.

I'm glad this article isn't supporting thisdecision, but let's be honest. If there was a ruling like this fora woman, y'all would be losing your damn minds.

I'm not comfortable with this at all.

You can't be more wrong.

Ok, here's my take on this as a rape crisis counselor, and a social worker: It sounds like he was trying to understand the situation - probably not to find out how much blame he can place on you, but to create a situation in which he could "see" it. Maybe was was looking for a reason why someone would rape, maybe he…

Ya know, some people like to talk about laws in other countries. But I don't think people realize how many antiquated laws are still on the books. We may break them all the time, but still

ROAD TRIP!!!

Prisoners don't have the same workplace protections, even $400 a month isn't exactly make-it-rain money, and where exactly are inmates supposed to apply these new goat-milking skills in their post-prison lives?

I think I would be okay with this as long as there were some kind of deal in place where the companies agree to prioritize hiring ex-cons after their term was up. Maybe the goat-milking business is a bad example, but if you've learned how to pack on a line, that's a skill. If you have experience with commercial fish…

You raise interesting points, but I think this type of activity is more in line with rehabilitation instead of punishment. As a nation we seem to be more interested in the latter without stopping to think that only through education and exposure to things other than the continuing vicious cycle of violence can these…

I heard that on the radio - that was a great article. It's a debtor's prison situation. The line that gets me (and extends past this type of situation to the war on drugs) is "Court officials note with pride how much money they raise." I would imagine that the more cynical reader would say that speed traps, traffic…

Seriously. This lady owed money to the government, so to clear the debt, tax payers spend more money to process her, house her, and feed her for 2 days? Seems like community service would be a more appropriate punishment.

Jesus. What are going to happen to the kids now?

Yes, there is. Kind of of odd for the alternative to paying the fine to be jail time. Basically, you pay the fine or we can throw you in jail and cost ourselves money? Sounds like the exact nonsense lawmakers would come up with.

Ah Debtors prisons. It's not like we didn't found this fucking country to get away from shit like that or anything.

Poor Land in Jail as Companies Add Huge Fees for Probation

There is an entire movement in the U.S. that is advocating using the courts and criminal justice system as a revenue center for cash strapped municipalities. It's disgusting, using the threat of jail to extract fees from the poor.