The fact is, imprisoning these men on a judge’s order alone is simply unconstitutional. If the offense he committed deserves jail time, then it is a criminal matter, whether we call it that or not, and we are guaranteed a trial by jury for all criminal offenses under the 6th amendment.
If you want a jury trial you better have lotsa money.
Nope! Like you, I thought a trial by jury was guaranteed for all criminal cases. Then a FReeper pointed out (on another thread) that the Supreme Court has arbitrarily decided that the 6th Amendment only applies for offenses punishable by more than 6 months.
I looked it up. He was right! So a person could be charged with, say, eight crimes, each punishable by 6 months, and be denied a jury trial!
So some judge could find him guilty and sentence him to 4 years in prison (8 times 6 months). No jury involved at all.
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury...
Note the second word: "all". The Supreme Court has decided that "all" does not mean what everyone thinks it means.
“The fact is, imprisoning these men on a judge’s order alone is simply unconstitutional. If the offense he committed deserves jail time, then it is a criminal matter, whether we call it that or not, and we are guaranteed a trial by jury for all criminal offenses under the 6th amendment.”
These are civil adjudications, not criminal
The cages are full of men for failure to pay $. And they don't come out of this "rehabilitated" but quite angry. Throw in biased slanted divorce laws and many of these guys get looted for decades. Hundreds of thousand have their wages garnished if they have jobs. Throw in all the court penalties for failure to pay when they won't or can't pay, and their done. Not saying they don't owe, but this system creates total financial chaos. Many times turning into very violent chaos.