Poverty Penalties and Poverty Traps

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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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Wisconsin Wis. Stat. § 973.07 Failure to pay fine, fees, surcharges, or costsor to comply with certain community service work.
If the fine, plus costs, fees, and surcharges imposed under ch. 814, are not paid or community service work under s. 943.017 (3) is not completed as required by the
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sentence, the defendant may be committed to the county jail until the fine, costs, fees, and surcharges are paid or discharged, or the community service work under s.943.017 (3) is completed, for a period fixed by the court not to exceed 6 months.
Incarceration All No
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Wisconsin Wis. Stat. § 800.095(1)(b) Nonpayment of monetary judgment
(b) 1. That the defendant be imprisoned until the forfeiture, assessments, surcharge, and costs are paid. If the court orders imprisonment under this subdivision, all of the following apply: a.
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The maximum period of imprisonment shall be 90 days for any one judgment, and the defendant shall receive credit against the amount owed at the rate of at least $50 for each day of imprisonment, including imprisonment following an arrest but prior to the court making a finding under subd. 2. b. The court may impose a term of imprisonment under this subdivision that is either concurrent with or consecutive to any other term of imprisonment imposed at the same time or any term of imprisonment imposed by any court. 2. No defendant may be imprisoned under subd. 1. unless the court makes one of the following findings: a. Either at sentencing or thereafter, that the defendant has the ability to pay the judgment within a reasonable time. If a defendant meets the criteria in s. 814.29 (1) (d), the defendant shall be presumed unable to pay under this subsection and the court shall either suspend or extend payment of the judgment or order community service. b. The defendant has failed, without good cause, to perform the community service authorized under this subsection or s.800.09. c. The defendant has failed to attend an indigence hearing offered by the court to provide the defendant with an opportunity to determine whether he or she has the ability to pay the judgment. d. The defendant has failed, without good cause, to complete an assessment or treatment program related to alcohol or drugs that was ordered in lieu of a monetary forfeiture. 3. a. Except as provided in subd. 3. b., the defendant shall be committed to a jail or a house of correction in the county in which the cause of action arose. b. The defendant may be committed to the jail in another county within or outside of the state if the other county borders the county in which the cause of action arose, and the monthly expenses charged to the municipality by the other county to imprison the defendant are at least 25 percent less than the monthly expenses charged by the county in which the cause of action arose, and the other county agrees to having the defendant committed to the jail in that county. c. The defendant shall be eligible for privileges under s.303.08 or a similar program in the other county if committed under subd. 3. b. The municipality shall pay the expenses incurred by the county to imprison the defendant.
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
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Washington DC DC ST § 15-102 Lien of judgment, decree, or forfeited recognizance
(a) Each --(1) final judgment or decree for the payment of money rendered in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, or the Superior Court of the
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District of Columbia, from the date such judgment or decree is filed and recorded in the office of the Recorder of Deeds of the District of Columbia, and (2) recognizance taken by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, or the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, from the date the entry or order of forfeiture of such recognizance is filed and recorded in the office of the Recorder of Deeds of the District of Columbia, shall constitute a lien on all the freehold and leasehold estates, legal and equitable, of the defendants bound by such judgment, decree, or recognizance, in any land, tenements, or hereditaments in the District of Columbia, whether the estates are in possession or are reversions or remainders, vested or contingent. Such liens on equitable interest may be enforced only by an action to foreclose.
Property liens All Yes
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Washington DC DC ST § 15-320 Enforcement of decrees
a) For the purpose of executing a decree, or compelling obedience to it, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia or the Superior Court of the District
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of Columbia, in addition to the other procedures provided for by this chapter and Chapter 5 of Title 16, may:(1) issue an attachment against the person of the defendant; (2) order an immediate sequestration of his real and personal estate, or such part thereof as may be necessary to satisfy the decree; or (3) by order and injunction, cause the possession of the estate and effects whereof the possession or a sale is decreed to be delivered to the complainant, or otherwise, according to the tenor and import of the decree and as the nature of the case requires. In case of sequestration, the court may order payment and satisfaction to be made out of the estate and effects so sequestrated, according to the true intent and meaning of the decree. (b) When a defendant is arrested and brought into court upon any process of contempt issued to compel the performance of a decree, the court may, upon motion, order: (1) the defendant to stand committed; or (2) his estates and effects to be sequestrated and payment made, as directed by subsection (a) of this section; or (3) possession of his estate and effects to be delivered by order and injunction, as directed by subsection (a) of this section -- until the decree or order is fully performed and executed, according to the tenor and true meaning thereof, and the contempt cleared. (c) Where a decree only directs the payment of money, the defendant may not be imprisoned except in those cases especially provided for.
Property liens All No