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from the Judge:-30-days-or-$100?-Arrestee:-I'll-take-the-$100 dept.
The New York Times is reporting on a disturbing courtroom scene in rural Alabama. A circuit judge apparently required those who owe fines to give blood or face incarceration.
From the article:
“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen,” began Judge Wiggins, a circuit judge here in rural Alabama since 1999. “For your consideration, there’s a blood drive outside,” he continued, according to a recording of the hearing. “If you don’t have any money, go out there and give blood and bring in a receipt indicating you gave blood.”
For those who had no money or did not want to give blood, the judge concluded: “The sheriff has enough handcuffs.”
[...] The dozens of offenders who showed up that day, old and young, filed out of the Perry County courthouse and waited their turn at a mobile blood bank parked in the street. They were told to bring a receipt to the clerk showing they had given a pint of blood, and in return they would receive a $100 credit toward their fines — and be allowed to go free.
[...] On Monday, the Southern Poverty Law Center filed an ethics complaint against Judge Wiggins, saying he had committed “a violation of bodily integrity.” The group also objected to the hearing beyond the matter of blood collection, calling the entire proceeding unconstitutional.
Payment-due hearings like this one are part of a new initiative by Alabama’s struggling courts to raise money by aggressively pursuing outstanding fines, restitution, court costs and lawyer fees. Many of those whose payments are sought in these hearings have been found at one point to be indigent, yet their financial situations often are not considered when they are summoned for outstanding payments.
Is it ethical to require blood donations under any circumstance?
Is the threat of jail for non-compliance (given that, theoretically, we don't have debtor's prison in the U.S.) even constitutional?
Is this a Fourth Amendment issue?
(Score: 2) by RamiK on Wednesday October 21 2015, @09:40AM
One problem is that we only have so many hematopoietic stem cells and they tend to leave the bone marrow and move around in the blood stream so giving blood could possibly shorten your life and expedite aging symptoms.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 21 2015, @10:22AM
citation needed
(Score: 2) by iwoloschin on Wednesday October 21 2015, @10:51AM
Citation please?
(Score: 2) by RamiK on Wednesday October 21 2015, @06:49PM
http://stemcells.nih.gov/staticresources/info/scireport/PDFs/D.%20Chapter%202.pdf [nih.gov]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hematopoietic_stem_cell#DNA_damage_and_aging [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hematopoietic_stem_cell#Mobility [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone_marrow_barrier#Bone_marrow_barrier [wikipedia.org]
Top two Google hits. I don't know anything about biology so if I'm saying anything about it it's because it's common knowledge.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 21 2015, @01:15PM
Citation needed, Also did you read the post you replied to? THIS WAS ENTIRELY OPTIONAL! If you believe that giving blood will reduce your lifespan, then pay the damn fine.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 21 2015, @02:21PM
> Also did you read the post you replied to? THIS WAS ENTIRELY OPTIONAL!
Did you read the story? For someone who is broke the choice between jail time and giving blood is so heavily coercive that it is 'optional' in name only.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 22 2015, @07:10PM
The real issue I see is your prisons are terrible.