Decriminalization of Poverty: A Potential Tool to Improve Public Safety

Decriminalization of Poverty:

A Potential Tool to Improve Public Safety

“I’m sorry I am late again, Doc,” were the words I heard in the hallway as I was headed out of the clinic. I decided to honor the appointment and started walking back to him and the clinic. During the appointment, my patient told me that he had to take three different buses, then walk about 20 minutes from the last bus stop to get to the clinic. With this context, I was happy that I made the effort to see him. As we continued to talk, I learned that at the root of my patient’s hardship was a suspended driver’s license due to unpaid fines. He didn’t contest the fines or dodge his responsibility. He simply couldn’t afford to pay the fines. When I accepted to write this article, I wondered how I could approach it. I could go academic with tons of articles to reference, or I could just share how I found myself into community advocacy against poverty. I decided to not go academic for simplicity and reproducibility reasons. Many of today’s challenges are known and well-defined. Solutions are what we need. I believe if I look to ensure that my input is simple and reproducible, then anyone can replicate it and optimize it for a better overall impact. I was born to farmers in Benin, West Africa. Besides fresh food that we had in abundance, we were poor. I owe everything to the hardworking character that my poor parents instilled in me and to the poor Beninese Government that supported me through free public school and universities. This is the reason why I am a strong believer in wellrun government as a means to lift the poor out of poverty. Conversely, there are governments throughout the world that have created second-class citizens through policies and practices that, unless undone, perpetuate poverty for generations. In the United States, the legacy of slavery; redlining; discrimination in educational, housing, and employment opportunities; and mass incarceration through the failed war on drugs, represent some of the ways the government continues to perpetuate poverty. We are not all born under the same circumstances and we do not start the game of life with the same opportunities. However, we all aspire to a life where we can meet our basic needs—such as feeding ourselves and our families, putting a roof over our heads, and being able to seek medical care when we are sick. For poor people, these basic needs are often unavailable or perhaps better described as unobtainable. The world’s resources are not expanding to meet the needs of a growing world population. For the survival of our species, humans will have to find different ways of sharing the resource pie. The wealthy, used to having the largest portion of the pie, will eventually need to share with the less fortunate amongst us. This means paying the working poor a livable wage. Each of us, as individuals and as institutions, will have to do some introspective work and frankly answer the question—When will we understand poverty, its root causes, and the potential solutions? While we wait for systemic solutions to poverty, we can continue to make small changes where we live. It starts with trying to understand the challenge. A child who is facing food insecurity and is acting out at school needs not be suspended from school. Rather, the child needs access to food. A child whose father has been incarcerated for years could be acting out in class because he misses the love of his father; or perhaps his mother is over-whelmed and unable to provide guidance. How does a suspension from school help this child or the child’s family? Have we tried to understand any root causes of said behavior or is punishment an easier default response to behavioral disruptions? During this election season, when a focus was placed on crime and public safety and two mutually-exclusive positions seemed to arise, it is important for us to pause and

By M. Etienne Djevi, MD

ask ourselves a question: Do fines and prison time address criminal behavior across the socio-economic spectrum? As a society, I think we have work to do with poverty-associated public safety issues. We need to identify ways to address crime and public safety that do not perpetuate poverty through fines, license suspensions, and other punishments that limit a person’s chances to work, earn money, and support themselves or their family. An individual operating a vehicle with a broken taillight, because he cannot afford to fix it, does not need a fine. They need assistance with fixing it. An unpaid fine in that instance can lead to a suspended driver’s license. Unable to drive, they cannot drive to work, or drive their children to school, or drive to a doctor’s appointment. His poverty in the system of punishment makes him poorer, contributing to the perpetuation of poverty with him and his offspring. Should the police even conduct traffic stops for equipment violations, or is the traffic stop itself beyond the scope of policing for public safety? Recognizing this cycle, my local police department has stopped equipment fines. They are currently enrolled in a program that provides coupons to fix broken motor vehicle equipment, and the County Attorney’s Office has discouraged traffic stops related to equipment violations. We are grateful for this concrete action being taken by Roseville Police and Ramsey County not to punish poverty. Individuals and families who are experiencing homelessness deserve to be connected to a social worker and resources. Recognizing that police officers aren’t experts in social work, housing navigators and social workers are now embedded in my local police department and are trained to connect individuals who are experiencing homelessness to resources. The department has representation at many community advocate and social service meetings and continues to cross-train staff to identify certain indicators related to homelessness, mental health, and substance abuse. Improving the relationship between police departments and communities, especially communities of color, is critical because officers are the first line of interaction between communities and the justice system. How do we get police officers to see the humanity in all of us regardless of race, gender, socioeconomic status? Conversely, how do communities accept the fact that police officers are humans who have a challenging and often dangerous job? This is the reason why for years I have worked with my local police department to get officers and people of color, especially Black people, to celebrate Juneteenth together. This dream became a reality in 2022. Black people in attendance were grateful to see police officers serving and being humans. Officers and community members shared a meal during the event. Some expressed their gratitude for officers being at the event, with incidents like what happened in Charlottesville still fresh on our minds. I encourage you, as my colleague and reader of this article, to find time to get involved in some aspect of your community and to better understand a challenge or challenges that your community is facing. For me, working toward solutions for challenges of social justice, public health, and climate change bring additional purpose to my life. I have found access points into these efforts through my local government, co-workers, and an ever-growing list of people and organizations who, like me, want to contribute and make positive changes. In hindsight, my response to my patient should have been, “thank you for all that you did to get here despite all the challenges you are facing.” To understand or at the least, to try to understand, is a good first effort and a solid step toward finding solutions to the challenges we face as a community.

M. Etienne Djevi, MD is a partner at Saint Paul Infectious Disease Associates. He is a member of the Roseville Human Rights, Inclusion, Engagement Commission (HRIEC), and a member of the Roseville Police Department Multicultural Advisory Committee (MAC). He can be reached at djevi001@ umn.edu.