Debtors' Prisons Are Alive and Well in America

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In theory, debtors prisons were outlawed at the federal level in 1833, pre-industrial America. Yet states’ tendency to imprison debtors as well as garnish public benefits reveals the continuing freedom local governments have to punish the poor to collect a small sum -- as well as the deeply troubling implications this can have for people of color. As the eighteenth annual Child Support Awareness Month is upon us, new frameworks for aiding “deadbeat” parents need to be considered in lieu of modern-day debtors’ prisons.