In 1981, a criminal court in Kings County held in People v. Goddard that imprisoning defendants for nonpayment of fines was "anachronistic, unconstitutional, costly, and an area suitable for realistic alternatives."1 The court, realizing the nonbinding nature of its decision, called on the Legislature specifically to address the problem of such imprisonment. However, in the 32 intervening years, the Court of Appeals and the Legislature have failed to issue decisive guidance on a court's authority to imprison an indigent defendant when the defendant, through no fault of his own, fails to pay a fine. This article will examine the current status of the law in this important area.
Supreme Court Precedent
The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of poverty.2 The U.S. Supreme Court has often noted that this type of discrimination is particularly endemic to the criminal justice system.
