Ann Arbor District Judge Elizabeth Hines Creates 'Street Outreach Court' For Area Homeless

Detroit Free Press:

Timothy Payne was facing several hundred dollars in traffic fines, and unable to get his driver's license back because of them.

Already teetering on homelessness, he was having a hard time finding a job without a car.

Read the whole story: Detroit Free Press

Comments

[DanBeach]

12:13 PM on 12/31/2010

I never understood charging a person who was arrested for not being able to pay their current fines and additional fine for court costs and warrant service....we have had a "debtors prison system" in America for decades

[nov52011]

11:11 PM on 12/31/2010

welcome to HC

[TaxpayingVoter]

10:40 AM on 12/31/2010

What needs to also happen is for the phrase "paid his debt to society" to actually mean something again. Too many employers won't hire someone for past transgressions that were committed during young adult years or while the person was experiencing extreme situations.

Nowadays, if you do something dumb and get caught for it, you're labelled for life.

[cryingliberty]

09:01 AM on 12/31/2010

This kind of thing should be commended. Ann Arbor has managed to find a very novel way to help those unable to escape from the never-ending spiral homelessness can create figure out a way to get themselves out of trouble, if they're willing to work.

Unfortunately, a lot of people are going to look at what this judge is doing and label it socialism, encouraging laziness, or as a "handout", which these are most assuredly not. These people have to bust their tails to get their records cleared.

This is the attitude of the large majority of commenters on the Free Press article - that this judge is anti-capitalist, she is encouraging idleness or laziness, and that the homeless who benefit from this program don't deserve what they're getting.

It's sad that we have a person who is trying, genuinely, to help people out and yet her efforts are drowned out by a vocal set of people who have nothing better to do than ridicule those with a sense of altruism.

[amd02148]

03:53 AM on 12/31/2010

Everytime I see someone homeless I'm so disgusted, how can people be living on the streets in the greatest country in the world? Any program that will help someone get off the street should be commended.

[edacelis]

10:14 AM on 12/31/2010

And just what makes this the best country in the world? The number of homeless alone should indicate that it isn't. The fact the the U.S. has the most wealth yet so many poor should lead one to believe it is one of the most morally corrupt and worst countries in the world.

[amd02148]

03:16 PM on 12/31/2010

Well we're the number one superpower, the country people literlly die to come to. And it's a shame we treat our citizens like that.

[maxfax]

06:19 PM on 12/30/2010

What pain are bankers facing these days?

[amd02148]

03:55 AM on 12/31/2010

Fanned max I don't know maybe whether they should buy the Mercedes they had their eyes on or a new yatch, oh the pain.