Analysis from the NewsDesk
Amend & Eliminate
⚞Cash Bail⚟
⚞Drug Paraphernalia⚟
⚞Youth Fines & Fees⚟
Senators & Representatives
— State of Arkansas 1836 —
gather at the State Capital in Little Rock.
They arrive to deliberate
o’er laws & regulations,
taxes & expenditures
at the Ninety-Fifth General Assembly
2025.
The opening bell sounded
precisely at Noon on 13 January.
It shant sound for closing
until early in the Spring.
So, have at it, O elected ones.
Arkansas’s autumn harvest
is gathered and counted.
Money bins o’erflow with taxes.
Your paydays are guaranteed.
2-faced Janus
stands at the Legislative Gate.
⚷ problems ⚶ opportunities ⚳
How shall you decide?
All the while,
up here in the snowy Ozark Highlands,
we can only watch & listen
to news from down in the Valley.
However, there are ways —
ways to keep in the know.
Our sharpest focus today
carries us to the legislative labors
of a staunch Champion of Justice
& also one of our neighbors:
the
Arkansas
Justice Reform
Coalition
[ AJRC ]
— — —
Conscientious research, brainstorming
& carefully crafted text, imagery & audio
⚖
created and disseminated
by the AJRC
⚖
provides legislators with
a triune Criminal Justice reform agenda —
grounded in experience and compassion,
& organized to address 3 aspects of State Law.
Ⓞ — Ⓞ
Excessive Punishment
Leads Directly
to Societal Decline
As indicated by metamodernist fashion —
— where image is text, as all is text,
and one begats the other —
let us consider [at the first]
Arkansas’s open-ended definition
of drug paraphernalia
& how interpretation by police and prosecutors
of AR Code 5-64-443 (2023)
leads to unjust charge » conviction » incarceration.
“Possession of Drug Paraphernalia”
as defined by the State
is punished more severely
than punishment for drunk driving.
AJRC asks legislators to rethink
the distinction between felony and misdemeanor
in charging the offense
& also the way current law
defines drug paraphernalia.
What Good a Raid
without an Arrest?
It’s common knowledge that law enforcement
uses an expansive definition of paraphernalia
to arrest and jail suspects
when no other offense is indicated.
As for common sense:
a kitchen blender, or a soup spoon, or a birthday balloon, or a greeting card envelope — each FREE of drug residue — must not be just cause for arrest.
“This bill simply moves any and all drug paraphernalia to a misdemeanor charge for the 2nd or 3rd occurrence to align with DWI statutes that become a felony on the 4th occurrence,” according to a statement from AJRC.
Ⓞ — Ⓞ
No Better Formula
to Define Inequity
than the System
of Cash Bail
Inconsistency & scant State oversight
bring uncertainty to cash bail policy
in Arkansas's 75 counties.
Yes, but
the most serious problem
for Criminal Justice reform
is the cash power of the prisoner.
Enough cash, go free.
Not enough, languish in jail.
A statement from AJRC defines it precisely:
“Wealth, not safety, is often the determining factor in who walks free and who remains in custody in Arkansas. The poor spend needless time incarcerated. ”
Cash bail becomes an elitist enterprise,
preventing those who are too poor to pay
from gathering sufficient odious lucre
to walk free until civil judgment day.
“The result,” AJRC states, “is a two-tier system, one for the wealthy and another for those who are not.”
As one of the Republic,
Arkansas
grapples with issues of Criminal Justice
in fulfillment of her sovereign responsibility
to define and administer
Crime & Punishment
&
much like the other forty-nine,
issues of fairness & equity
enter into consideration.
At this moment we consider
Cash Bail,
a strenuous issue
for elected officials
& especially those civic servants
who watch over and care for prisoners.
Voices for reform:
Respect! Mercy!
Cry from the opposites:
Be Hard on Crime!
Realize a fact:
Unrestrained corporate capitalism
raises a pay wall
between the prisoner & family
a wall
so draconian & heartless
to defy our understanding
— at least our understanding
here in safety at The Other OZ.
Out there,
at nearby jails, county and city,
a wall of flat screens
replaces visitor's tables —
see-you-in-the-flesh no more allowed.
Pray forbid
the comfort of holding hands.
Instead, sit in a jailhouse kiosk
behind the electronic wall,
&
view your loved one via tv monitor
— that's F R E E ! —
or pay outrageous charges
for e-mail and "Video Call"
via Cyber Corporate America.
State & county administrators
deal daily with issues of humanity,
especially in local jails and courthouses.
Cash flow follows a narrow channel,
feeding competing Civic entities
with just enough greenback
to maintain bare-bones stability.
No wonder
a dialectic struggle ensues
between ethics and necessity
⇕
a struggle between
perceived Public Good
&
and the suffering prisoner
⇕
a struggle between
well-heeled lawgivers
&
The Other
— invisible behind bars
Solution?
AJRC seeks
to end the practice of imposing cash bail
on most misdemeanor charges.
In its place, the Coalition proposes, will be “a system where misdemeanor charges are cited electronically or written with information on court appearance details. This bill is the first step towards leveling the playing field between the wealthy and the rest of us when it comes to pretrial detention.”
Ⓞ — Ⓞ
One Arrest
Oft Drives
a Cash-Poor Family
into Financial Despair
What's better for a wayward youngster:
school • counseling • treatment
under care of family
or
$35 court cost to juvenile
$35 court cost to family
$20 monthly fee for probation
$20 monthly juvenile service fee
$500 fine to “adjudicated delinquents”
$500 fine to “adjudicated family in need of services”
$20 monthly “diversion fee” to juvenile
&
if youngster or family cannot pay,
penalties are often piled-on
— 90 miles per hour
down a dead-end street —
Others can salute the judge
who — ever now 'n then —
allows additional time to pay
or revokes, in part or whole, payment-due.
These expressions
of judicial mercy are not too common.
“Perversely, the poorest individuals ultimately pay the most money,” the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law tells us.
What think thee,
O Occupant of the Opposite Loft?
So, a young’un gets in trouble,
gets a job to help cover the cost
& mom picks-up several shifts more at work.
Never enough. Never enough.
All the while,
the courts reap more and more cash in the thirsty till
& the struggling family
works harder than ever before.
Can't keep up. Can't keep up.
&
nobody wins.
Realize a fact:
Cash power is oft fleeting, intermittent,
& seldom fully charged
for so many among us.
Trouble with The Law arrives.
Ability to save an extra cent
crumbles.
What next?
AJRC: Juveniles and family “shared having to go without necessities — food, utilities, weather and size-appropriate clothing — to even having their parents declare bankruptcy due to the financial stress youth fines and fees cause.”
Solution?
AJRC: “Eliminate fines and fees for most youth court, excluding restitutions and FINs cases, with an emphasis on accountability through other means, including family and youth programs and services.”
Come on, Legislators.
Do the Right Thing.
Compassion & Good Sense
Will Not Make You
Appear Soft on Crime.
OZ
f
In Solidarity
The Other OZ Stands
We invite you to The Other OZ landing page on the World Wide Web.
Woven throughout & ending with The Hand Of Glory is the ever-changing draft of a Manifesto for Universal Justice
& also
text and graphics about Social Justice issues, activists, and coalitions.
As forever, we are a work in progress. Here is the hyperlink: