Publisher’s Note: The publisher has had no role in editing this column, which is published as the writer submitted it with the intention of publication in BEACONS.
By Quin Lee
Tony Messenger is a 2019 Pulitzer prize winner for commentary. He writes for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in Missouri. The tone of his award-winning articles is based in ‘paying for the penalty of being poor. This specific article “Missouri teen stole a lawnmower in high school — 11 years later he's still going to court” is one of the best examples of this issue. At the age of 17, Cory Booth was charge with the crime of stealing a lawnmower. And at the time of this article, he had done multiple bouts of jail time and paid thousands in fines. Booth describes his relationship with the sentencing judge, Kanoy, as robbing Peter to pay Paul. Which is a biblical reference to using the money to pay one debt to pay another. For this article, the central thesis is the greed of the Fines and Fees Justice Center.
It all started when Booth was in high school and was pinned with theft by a ‘friend’. After spending his first two nights in jail he described himself as so scared he could not sleep. He then plead guilty. Solidifying any regret for breaking the law. Unbeknownst to him he routinely had to pay for being jailed. Former judge Lisa Foster calls it the ‘paying for the privilege of being jailed’. According to the article, Messenger reports that the payments of began manageable but soon grew to the thousands. And it soon became an ethical choice between paying the judge or taking care of his four children or groceries. This system is held in place by private probation and their goal to find any violations. These funds continue to feed the debtors prison system. The article by Tony Messenger based on the experiences of Cory Booth. Messenger describes the issue in a matter-of-fact tone that bring the reader into the story. He hits home on the fact that everyone makes mistakes weather it comes from themselves or the company they keep. This one poor descions is still affecting booth 11 years later. Along with the continual payments from violating parole, Booth is barred from enlisting in the military. With this debt that started at 7,000 dollars he believes he finally has it down to 5,000 dollars. Booths budget is presumed to be so tight that he can only afford 50 dollars payment a month. With this information Foster determines the program as a tethering to the system. And Jennifer Weiss calls it the poverty penalty.
The analysis for this issue is that people who live in poverty are targeted. Whilst everyone makes mistakes and will make a run in with the law somewhere during their lifetime those with the financial ability can put it behind them. People like booth are prosecuted and hunted down for the same mistakes and not being able to pay it off. Messenger does a great job with this article because of the relatable nuances within Booth’s story. With the two primary sources connected to the justice system, the readers get proof and confirmation that people in poverty are being preyed upon by the private justice system. During the last sections of the article Booth reveals how he does not blame Judge Kanoy. He thanks the judge for giving him second chances and good advice. This is conflicted by the fact that the judge is still participating in the same system that keeps bringing Booth back to the courthouse. This article is a good start to reading the rest of Tom Messengers work on the poverty penalty.
In conclusion, this article was a great was to start reading about the issues poor people face with the court’s financial institution. A lot of these problems are cause by private systems but the American Bar Association has passed a resolution against these outrageous cost and their long term effects on people in poverty. Setting people like Corey Booth free after serving their time and paying their dues is the main goal and influence Tom Messenger is trying to relay.
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