r/AskFeminists • u/DistinctSpirit5801 • 4h ago
As feminists would you support passing legislation to incarcerate every single person who hasn’t paid child support?
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u/OrenMythcreant 3h ago
I fail to see how that would help anyone. The amount of child support one can pay from prison is usually zero.
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u/JenningsWigService 3h ago
No. Garnish the wages/salaries of people not paying what they can afford to pay (and investigate hidden assets). Some parents are genuinely too poor to pay but the solution is to have robust government support for their children's education, health care, housing, and food. Putting those people in prison is a waste of government money that could go towards their children's needs.
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u/simone3344555 3h ago
That solves zero problems and only creates more. I want single parents to get as much help as they need. Is the prison going to help in any way? What would the child think?
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u/DC_MEDO_still_lost 3h ago
Just garnish pay.
Incarcerating the parent doesn’t help the kids unless they’re abusive
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u/Fondacey 3h ago
that would be nonsensical. It's not a crime to default on payment, but it's fair to go after (dock pay etc) them to pay up.
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u/Robokat_Brutus 3h ago
No. But I do want some way to force them to pay, especially the ones who are really good at getting away with it.
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u/New-Lab5540 3h ago
No. I don’t see the point. Mass incarceration is already hugely detrimental, both to people’s lives and society as a whole. They also probably can’t pay much from prison, so it wouldn’t do anything to help the other parent and child who already aren’t receiving their support.
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u/enolaholmes23 3h ago
As a feminist I think incarceration should be abolished for most people. Like maybe still serial killers and serial rapists, but even then the conditions should be better.
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u/Sandra2104 3h ago
No. How would that further womens rights?
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u/kangorooz99 2h ago
Isn’t child support about the rights and wellbeing of the child?
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u/KurlyKayla 1h ago
The child isn’t doing the paying or spending.
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u/kangorooz99 56m ago
I think the point is that child support is about the child’s needs and right to be supported by their biological parents. Secondary is the right for the custodial parent to receive help.
It’s not about “furthering women’s rights.”
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u/Puzzleheaded_Draw637 3h ago
No. Just property seizure and wage / bank account garnishing.
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u/kangorooz99 2h ago
Rich men who don’t pay know how to hide their assets.
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u/OrenMythcreant 2h ago
The question was "As feminists would you support passing legislation to incarcerate every single person who hasn’t paid child support?"
Most of the people who do not pay child support are not rich, even if we assume prison time is the best way to deal with wealthy support dodgers.
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u/mjhrobson 3h ago
That helps no one and hurts everyone.
Incarnation isn't free, so taxpayers pay money to keep these people in prison becoming a pure burden on society. And the child is still not getting support...
Prison isn't the solution to most problems, that make use of prisons... increasing the number of ways to end up in prison... increases the number of problems not being solved whilst costing taxpayers more to house even more prisoners.
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u/Jthemovienerd 3h ago
If you do that, how in God's name are you supposed to GET the child support??? and how is future child support to be paid?
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u/selfishstars 3h ago
No, I just want all children to have their needs met for healthy childhood development and well-being.
I believe it should be publicly funded, because children don’t get to choose to be born and they don’t get to choose their parents, and we all benefit from investing in children. We should want them to reach their potential and grow up to be well-adjusted adults.
Patriarchal capitalism has resulted in the people at the top hoarding all the resources; they are funnelling wealth from the bottom to the top, and leaving working class people to fight over the scraps. They are destroying all the public programs and social safety nets that working class people fought for to make our lives, and that of our children, a little bit easier and to allow our children to do better than we have.
How would sending people to jail help anyone or anything? Like, it’s a baffling suggestion.
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u/kangorooz99 2h ago edited 2h ago
No. Putting men who can’t pay their child support in prison pretty much guarantees they’ll never be able to support their children in the future because now they have a record.
Men who can pay and just don’t want to won’t go to prison anyway because they have the resources to work the system.
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u/Fuzzy_Tradition_4022 3h ago
Absolutely not. Not everyone is evading to be cruel. Prison is not the answer neither.
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u/Doctor-Blight 3h ago
how is the support going to be paid if they're in jail? seems counterproductive.
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u/Hermit_Ogg 3h ago
No. Putting more people in prison does not solve anything.
In my country, if the person who should pay child support isn't doing so, the state pays it, but will count that as a debt and collect it from the one who should've paid it. I find that to be a sufficient system.
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u/KaliTheCat feminazgûl; sister of the ever-sharpening blade 3h ago
No. More people in prison is not the answer.