The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear a challenge to a practice in a Minnesota county of charging a $25 “booking fee” to those who have been arrested, regardless of whether they are later acquitted or even formally charged. This fund raising effort is dangerous to our liberty because, among other things, it encourages arrests as means of raising revenue, not to mention that the mandatory of collection of these fees is at odds with the presumption of innocence. We hope the United States Supreme Court will rule such practices violate the Unites States Constitution. The trend of using the criminal justice system as means of raising revenue is not only at odds with United States Constitution but genuine threat to our liberty that further traps poor people in cycle of poverty.
