CHICAGO
-- In
a highly significant case for the nation, under pressure from the Pittsburgh,
Pa., chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), judges ordered
the release of 37 incarcerated parents who allegedly owed child support.
Holding these defendants in jail violated their civil liberties
because they did not have hearings or access to legal representation
before they were jailed, which the ACLU insists is required by the U.S.
Constitution.
In addition, according to a Nov. 16, news report, Westmoreland County
courts, in Pennsylvania, decided to act upon an ACLU request that child
support defendants facing jail time for nonsupport be given access to
legal counsel during their hearings. Now, defendants will be advised
that they have a right to legal counsel, even if they cannot afford
a lawyer.
This action by the Pittsburgh ACLU is especially significant now in
light of the increasingly prevalent news reports of holiday "deadbeat
parent" round-ups across the country. The nation should focus its attention
on these Pittsburgh ACLU cases because they have implications for men
and women in all states held without hearings or counsel for allegedly
owing child support.
I believe more incarcerated fathers, and some mothers, are situated
similarly throughout the nation at this time.
Some readers may wonder why society should care about these so-called
child support "scofflaws." We should care because we are a nation
of laws. The constitution and due process should be followed for all,
otherwise we are all at risk of losing our civil liberties. Justice
should not be a luxury only the rich can afford.
At a time when one out of every 32 adults in the United States is either
on parole, probation, or in jail, for a total of 6.6 million people
nationwide, we need to step back to understand how we are using our
prison system to try to correct social problems. Too many officials
don't have the facts about child support and "deadbroke dads," and are,
therefore, making faulty decisions.
Credible research has shown that the so-called "deadbeat dad problem"
is a myth and has been blown way out of proportion. Most divorced
dads pay their support and love their children. Most parents who
do not keep up with paying child support do not willfully refuse to
pay. Most of them don't pay because they can't pay, due to illness,
disability, inability to find a decent-paying job in a poor economy,
or unemployment -- events beyond one's control that can befall any one
of us. It is cruel and unusual punishment to incarcerate these
men, and, yes, it is mainly men who are targeted.
What if the men being held in jail are innocent? We will not know
soon enough if they are denied due process as the men in the Pennsylvania
case. There are far too many cases nationwide where dads are innocent,
are not willfully noncompliant, or a very large mistake has been made
in calculating support allegedly owed. For example, a shocking
mistake was reported by the Associated Press in 1998: "Last June, a
legislative audit found that almost one-third of the West Virginia Child
Support Enforcement Division's files contained incorrect data. Those
errors led the agency to wrongly collect about $1.7 million from 3,788
parents during the 1995-96 fiscal year, the auditors say."
Scapegoating of fathers has resulted in misguided and damaging social
policies such as not providing due process as above, and allowing rampant
errors to exist in the system. This situation must change. Too many
families are being hurt by failing social policies.
Jeffrey M. Leving
