Poverty Penalties and Poverty Traps

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Below are the poverty penalties and poverty traps that meet your search criteria. Many include a See related provisions prompt which searches our database for laws that may pertain to your result.

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State Statute Description/Statute Name Statutory language Type of poverty penalty or poverty trap Level of offense Mandatory
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Rhode Island R.I. Gen. Laws. Ann. § 12-19-31 Commitment for nonpayment of fines and costs

Whenever any person shall be committed for nonpayment of fines and costs, the sheriffs of the several counties and their deputies, and the town sergeants and town constables of any

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town in the several counties, upon due warrant from the court before whom the person has been convicted, may lawfully remove and commit the persons to the adult correctional institutions and they shall be allowed any fees that are now provided by law in similar cases; provided, that in the counties of Newport and Washington, any person before removal from the county of Newport or the county of Washington, in which sentence is entered, may pay the fine and costs into the court or into the office of the clerk of the court in which sentence is imposed and upon payment shall be discharged.

Incarceration All No
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Rhode Island R.I. Gen. Laws. Ann. § 12-21-9 Commitment for failure to obey judgment or sentence

If any person against whom sentence is passed or judgment rendered, under any penal statute, shall refuse or neglect to perform the sentence or to pay the judgment, he or

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she shall, by order of the court passing the sentence or by the officer charged with the execution issued on the judgment, be committed to the adult correctional institutions, and be imprisoned there until the sentence is performed or he or she is discharged by due course of law.

Incarceration All No
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Rhode Island R.I. Gen. Laws. Ann. § 12-19-8.1 Conditions of probation

(a) The following shall constitute basic conditions of probation applicable to all defendants upon whom a period of probation has been imposed: (8) Pay restitution, court costs, and fines, if

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assessed, in one or several sums, based on the defendant's ability to pay; and

Condition or extension of supervision All No
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Washington DC DC ST § 16-706 Enforcement of judgments; commitment upon non-payment of fine
The Superior Court may enforce any of its judgments rendered in criminal cases by fine or imprisonment, or both. Except as otherwise provided by law, and subject to the relief
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provided in section 3569 of title 18, United States Code, in any case where the court imposes a fine, the court may, in the event of default in the payment of the fine imposed, commit the defendant for a term not to exceed one year.
Incarceration All No
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Washington DC DC ST § 11-741 Contempt powers (DC Court of Appeals)
(a) Subject to the limitation described in subsection (b), and in addition to the powers conferred by section 402 of title 18, United States Code, the District of Columbia Court
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of Appeals, or a judge thereof, may punish for disobedience of an order or for contempt committed in the presence of the court.... (3)(A) An individual imprisoned for 6 consecutive months for civil contempt for disobedience of an order in a proceeding described in paragraph (1) who continues to disobey such order may be prosecuted for criminal contempt for disobedience of such order at any time before the expiration of the 12-month period that begins on the first day of such individual's imprisonment, except that an individual so imprisoned as of the date of the enactment of this subsection may be prosecuted under this subsection at any time during the 90-day period that begins on the date of the enactment of this subsection. ...
Incarceration All No
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Washington DC DC ST § 11-944 Contempt power (Superior Court of DC)
(a) Subject to the limitation described in subsection (b), and in addition to the powers conferred by section 402 of title 18, United States Code, the Superior Court, or a
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judge thereof, may punish for disobedience of an order or for contempt committed in the presence of the court.... (3)(A) An individual imprisoned for 6 consecutive months for civil contempt for disobedience of an order in a proceeding described in paragraph (1) who continues to disobey such order may be prosecuted for criminal contempt for disobedience of such order at any time before the expiration of the 12-month period that begins on the first day of such individual's imprisonment, except that an individual so imprisoned as of the date of the enactment of this subsection may be prosecuted under this subsection at any time during the 90-day period that begins on the date of the enactment of this subsection.
Incarceration All No