We have previously discussed the move in some states to jail parents of truant children. It is part of the criminalization of America where pet peeves of politicians are ramped up to criminal offenses to make a point. Now, Eileen DiNino, 55, of Reading, Pennsylvania has died while serving one of these ridiculous sentences. The mother of seven died in jail after serving half of her 48-hour sentence.
The 48-hour sentence was in lieu of a $2,000 — a choice that many impoverished parents have to make.
District Judge Dean R. Patton is quoted as asking “Did something happen? Was she scared to death?” He described DiNino as “a lost soul.”
Perhaps not quite as lost as when she was sent to jail for her kids not attending school regularly. The law is another example of how politicians are criminalizing every type of social ill to demonstrate their commitment to an area like education. Little thought is given to how such sentences only worsen the situation in families that already have serious problems. Jail increasingly seems the answer to every social failure for politicians. It not only magnifies the problems in these families but gives these parents criminal records.
In this one county, more than 1,600 people have been jailed and two-thirds of them are women since 2000 over truancy fines. Yet, the “give-them-a-dose-of-jail” crowd will likely be undeterred. What most concerns me is that more affluent people can simply pay these fines so it will be often single mothers from impoverished families who are send to jail. However, prosecutors like Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy have pushed to jail parents for missing teacher-parent conferences. The criminal code is becoming our vehicle of reinforcement of good social habits and behavior. As more such matters are put into the criminal system, politicians demands that their pet peeves of unkept lawns or feeding pigeons be added as well. It becomes a downward spiral into a criminalized society.
Source: ABC
Shameful, another instance in which the poor are given worse treatment than the rich. What a sad statement on our society and some of it’s unjust laws, when dealing with the poor and vulnerable.
My first question is why does this woman have seven children? I know we can’t prohibit a woman from having children, but where was her church, her community and her family when she obviously was struggling? Moreover, where are the father(s) who impregnated her? Are they getting punished or did they disappear after shooting off their sperm? Next, what did the government offer this woman who obviously can’t cope with parental duties including school leaders, church leaders and community leaders? And most of all, why did the judge in this situation think that putting this struggling mother in jail would help solve the problem of truancy? All around, this woman’s life as a mother is tragic and everyone involved contributed to the tragedy. The children will be the ones who suffer the most and I don’t expect the judge to adopt them or to volunteer some of his salary to ensure the children have access to a solid education and health care.
No Paul. She was put in jail because she could not pay the fine. That is putting someone in jail because they are poor.
rafflaw – are you sure you are an attorney? She was convicted, it is a fine or jail, she could not pay the fine, or would not and so went to jail. Happens all the time. Actually, they would usually rather have the money.
This is a disgusting situation that is made worse because she was in jail due to the inability to pay fines. Not only is it stupid and unproductive for parents to be jailed for truancy fines, but it is also stupid for anyone who can’t pay fines to be put in jail for it. Debtor prisons once again.
Chuck,
that was interesting!
rafflaw – this is not a debtor’s prison, although there is some concern we have set them up again using contempt of court proceedings. This was a x dollars or x days in jail sort of thing.
From the news story:
Oh really! They don’t know the cause of death, but have already determined it is “not suspicious.” Anyone want to buy a nice beachfront condo in Wyoming?
(and BTW My friend used to teach at a school where the parents made decent money. On parent teacher night if she got more then 3 -5 parents that was considered a successful night.)
Good old Paul, It is those who are affluent who care more about their kids, that is why they get their kids to school while those awful poorer, impoverished folks don’t.
well let’s see maybe they are working 2 and 3 jobs just to put food on the table? Maybe their kids have taken jobs, possibly under the table ones, to help out the family so can’t make it to school (those lazy bums). Perhaps living in poorer communities where they see drug dealers and gang activity makes them afraid to go to school and so on.
leejcaroll – jump right in there and put words in my mouth. It is a question of priorities. If you are at the bottom of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, education of your children is not a priority.
Come on! You nanny big govt., zero tolerance folks must have something to say about this and the artisan cheese post??
These are the stoopid laws. It punishes ones for being improvised and having to make choices.
the judge lied? the judge most likely had other options other than jail. its the lawyers/judges stupid – sticking it america and americans – one case at a time. lawyers will blame the politicians, yet the lawyers are the number one campaign supporters and money contributors to politicians. why – because politicians pass laws, and every new law that gets passed is a lawyer industrial complex stimulous package. every year over 40,000 new laws, rules, regs are put on the books. and virtually every one of them is ambiguously worded, because lawyers can’t make money or argument if the law is cut and dry, black and white. the laws are intentionally written with gray areas – and thats where the lawyers make their money and get their gov’t jobs. and its the lawyers who draft all the language and wording used in the laws. don’t let the judges and lawyers pawn this all off to the politicians (whch many are also lawyers/judges). more than likely, the judges/lawyers are secretly thinking – maybe now the truant kids will learn their lesson – you kids are the ones who killed your mother. lawyers are biggest spinmeister phonies on the planet. lawyers suck.
Making a point or not, this is stomach-wrenching. I’m sure there was some underlying health issue, and she may have died at home if she hadn’t gone to jail, which would be sad enough with so many kids to care for. Again, this is voters voting against their own best interests. There are issues and there are crimes. Truancy should not be a crime. (I do like the idea of having the parents go to school with the kid for a day. We all know that would embarrass the kids to never skip class again! But again, the working poor rarely get time off allowed for such things, and that is who this hurts the most often.) I know schools lose money for every child that does not show up for school, and parents are the responsible party for any transgression (to a point), made by their children, but this isn’t civilized.
Our politicians are killing America and I as one person don’t know what to
do about it. Writing to my congressperson is the same as sending smoke
signals. Same results. And it don’t make any sense to ask the people who causes the problem to fix the problem. A revolution won’t help because we
will wind up with a dictator like Hitler. So my only hope is someday to elect a
president who has the fortitude to find our way back to the Constitution.
I thought debtors prisons were done away with. But fines and jail are not the answer to the problem of truant kids. It would probably be a good idea to find out why so many kids are truant. Why are kids skipping school? Why are the parents unable to ensure the kids go to school? Without finding answers to these questions (and many corollaries), the underlying problems won’t go away.
In this case, the mom seemed to be overwhelmed by her poverty and her illness that made proper care of her kids too difficult. Besides, kids who really want to skip school will find ways regardless of their parents.
Darren – truancy costs the schools money and the students their education. When it become chronic is when something like this is done. In some cases judges have sentenced the parent to go to school with the child.
More affluent parents usually make sure their kids get to school, so they do not end up getting either fined or jailed.
The “tough on crime” meme is like the “conspiracy theory” meme.
Just another example of our government legislating us into Narnia.
Mindless bureaucrats and soulless politicians need to ‘act tough on crime,’ since they can’t create policies that effectively treat the problem. Jail is the easy solution to all societies ills. Needless jail sentences keeps a bloated police/security complex employed, harmful fines profit diminished local treasuries, and rhetorical speeches and press releases about ‘being tough on crime’ sooth a clueless electorate. No one thinks these draconian punishments can happen to them……until they do. America, to millions (especially minority populations and the poor), is a military industrial, security state, prison complex, not a land of justice, opportunity and freedom.
As London deals with its homeless population in a potentially deadly manner:
Outcry over anti-homeless ‘spikes’ in London – Yahoo News http://news.yahoo.com/outcry-over-anti-homeless-spikes-london-141126295.html
Feed the rich and ham the poor and middle class is the new mantra of western governments dominated by the moneyed kleptocracy.
These type of laws are asinine. When I read here 1,600 parents were jailed for their childrens’ truancy I was a bit shocked. But I wonder what is worse; being put in jail for two days and that being the extent of it or getting CPS involved and having the children taken away.
What was the cause of her death?