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Don’t pay support, go directly to jail
San Antonio Express-News ^ | 06/15/2010 | By Craig Kapitan - Express-News

Posted on 06/16/2010 8:59:20 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd

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I'm not sure if that chart is right. Maybe should be 2007 2008 2009?
1 posted on 06/16/2010 8:59:20 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
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To: Responsibility2nd

I thought we didn’t do debtors prison any more.


2 posted on 06/16/2010 9:03:16 AM PDT by colorado tanker
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To: Responsibility2nd
I'm not defending fathers who don't pay for their kids, but putting them in jail is idiotic. All over the country, we see stories where violent offenders are being released because of prison overcrowding and yet we're finding available space in jail for people who don't pay their bills.

This is a civil matter, not a criminal matter. The US doesn't have debtor's prison, at least it shouldn't. The last 100 years, we've criminalized WAY too much activity, and taken our eyes off actual violent, predatory offenders like murderers, rapists and pedophiles. Get the drug users, child-support avoiders out of jail and make some room for the real threats to society.

3 posted on 06/16/2010 9:05:43 AM PDT by OldDeckHand
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To: Responsibility2nd
It's always seemed to me that locking up a “deadbeat” parent is a losing proposition. If they do have a source of income, they are going to lose it when they go to jail. Then the taxpayer is on the hook for their room and board, meals, and healthcare at the local jail. Then when they get out of jail, they're jobless and possibly homeless, so the taxpayer is on the hook for welfare and housing. So the state manages to eventually collect $5,000 in child support, which it costs them $50,000 in court costs, jail fees, welfare payment and lost productivity to get.
4 posted on 06/16/2010 9:07:43 AM PDT by apillar
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To: OldDeckHand

They forgot to mention all the deadbeat mothers out there.


5 posted on 06/16/2010 9:08:33 AM PDT by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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To: Responsibility2nd

Jail for deadbeat moms that hold children’s visitation rights as a stick to beat up men? Didn’t think so...magritte


6 posted on 06/16/2010 9:09:34 AM PDT by magritte ("There are moments, Jeeves, when one asks oneself "Do trousers matter?")
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To: colorado tanker

The point about debtor’s prison is a very good one. What about the guy that doesn’t have a job and can’t get one. That’s not an unusual situation in this recession. Unemployed single mothers are given custody and government assistance. Unemployed single fathers are given child support payments and jail time if they don’t make them.


7 posted on 06/16/2010 9:10:53 AM PDT by Mere Survival (Mere Survival: The new American Dream)
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To: apillar
imo fathers who neglect to provide support for their kids, regardless of the drama around the parents, are particularly low. Jailing them though is non-productive from any angle.
8 posted on 06/16/2010 9:10:59 AM PDT by moose-matson (I keep it in my head)
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To: Responsibility2nd

I say send all of these people to go help clean the Gulf, and pay them minimum wage.


9 posted on 06/16/2010 9:11:28 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Responsibility2nd

There are 100’s of reasons why I am so glad my (awesome) daughter is now a 22 y/o college graduate, but the one relevent to this article is that there is nothing more my X-wife can even attempt to hold over me anymore.


10 posted on 06/16/2010 9:11:31 AM PDT by mad puppy (Steve McIntyre, we owe you frothy cold one. Thanks.)
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To: moose-matson

There are mothers who don’t pay support.


11 posted on 06/16/2010 9:12:42 AM PDT by Irisshlass
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To: magritte

The “Family” Court racket is simply that. You have “Family” Law whores....err....attorneys whom have a sole interest in soaking clients without much concern for just outcomes. You also have “Judges” (some that have no children) that are in on the racket as collection of child support money for the counties and states is a big money-maker due to the Federal dollars that will flow their way as a result.

The “system” is completely broken and no one is really interested in fixing it.

Finally, it should be noted that courts are government entities, and we’re supposed to believe they are anymore competent than any other government entity? Puh-leeze.....


12 posted on 06/16/2010 9:14:33 AM PDT by nesnah
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To: Irisshlass

No doubt but I’d wager that the overwhelming % of dead-beat parents are fathers just as the overwhelming % of single parents are mothers.


13 posted on 06/16/2010 9:14:36 AM PDT by moose-matson (I keep it in my head)
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To: Responsibility2nd

paraphrasing a support hearing that my aunt had many years ago:

Aunt: He is 14 months in arrears!
Ex: I don’t have any money.
Judge: I can send him to jail.
Aunt: How is he ever going to pay me if he is sitting in jail?


14 posted on 06/16/2010 9:16:18 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Responsibility2nd

The obvious solution is to do away with court ordered child support payments.

Period.

Would that allow even more men to skate away free from all parental responsibilities. Would that not force millions of single moms with little kids into welfare?

Nope. Not if you do it right.

We need to eliminate no fault divorceses. We need to pass tax laws that support intact families - not punish them. We can easily turn around our culture of broken homes, but there’s just one problem.

It’s not in the government’s best intersts.

Big Government only grows bigger as the welfare class grows.


15 posted on 06/16/2010 9:16:53 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd (PALIN/MCCAIN IN 2012 - barf alert? sarc tag? -- can't decide)
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To: OldDeckHand

However theres no law requiring a custodial parent usually in Tx a woman...to be gainfully employed. They can get on bennies sit on their fat ass and do nothing but watch the soaps. but they expect the cig and beer money


16 posted on 06/16/2010 9:17:13 AM PDT by Gasshog (going to get what all those libs asked for, but its not what they expected.)
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To: Responsibility2nd

Middle class men meet their “bail out” amounts - usually within 24 hours... Child Support enforcement is a positive incentive to keep marriages together...


17 posted on 06/16/2010 9:18:26 AM PDT by GOPJ (http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index2.php?area=dam&lang=eng)
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To: toomanygrasshoppers

PING


18 posted on 06/16/2010 9:18:43 AM PDT by FrogHawk (inmemoryofSpcJoeLewis)
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To: mad puppy

I assume the ex did not pay for the college education.

For if she did - she could come back to you for repayment.


19 posted on 06/16/2010 9:19:17 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd (PALIN/MCCAIN IN 2012 - barf alert? sarc tag? -- can't decide)
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To: Mere Survival
Unemployed single mothers are given custody and government assistance. Unemployed single fathers are given child support payments and jail time if they don’t make them.

Is it surprising that many men don't want to honor this government imposed contract that they didn't write? Does our society really think being a father is just writing a check to a woman who once claimed to love him but now claims to hate him? How much evidence do we need that fatherless families create so many societal problems? The way our society is organizing itself is disturbing on so many levels.

20 posted on 06/16/2010 9:20:07 AM PDT by colorado tanker
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