The Poor People’s Petition: Four Uses of Habeas Corpus Among the Poor in Washington and Missouri in the 19th Century

Jacquelyne Leon-Flores Author

07/27/2021 Added

30 Plays

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Four examples of how the poor used Habeas Corpus Petitions to challenge unlawful arrest, confinement and custody disputes.

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[00:00:00.750]Hello, my name is Jacquelyne Leon-Flores.
[00:00:03.300]I am a Sociology and Social & Criminal Justice major at Coe college.
[00:00:07.530]Thank you for taking the time to watch my presentation today.
[00:00:10.500]The Poor People's Petition: Four Uses of Habeas Corpus Among the Poor in Washington
[00:00:15.270]and Missouri in the 19th century. This summer I was able to work with Dr.
[00:00:19.590]Katrina Jagodinsky and the Center for Digital Research in the Humanities
[00:00:23.700]transcribing and encoding hundreds of Habeas Corpus petitions from 1812
[00:00:28.530]to 1924 in the American West. Habeas Corpus petitions
[00:00:33.630]are used to challenge an unlawful arrest or detainment. Reading
[00:00:37.410]these allows for us to see how those who were at a disadvantage due to their
[00:00:41.370]socioeconomic status,
[00:00:43.200]managed to use the law to petition for their rights and freedom.
[00:00:48.300]For my presentation,
[00:00:49.440]I decided to focus on the four ways in which the poor used the law to their
[00:00:53.280]advantage to either petition for their freedom against
[00:00:57.120]One- slavery, two-
[00:00:59.940]in custody disputes,
[00:01:01.320]three-against Vagrancy Laws and four-from poor defense.
[00:01:08.190]The first example I will talk about is Dolly v. Young. Dolly,
[00:01:12.240]a woman restrained of her liberty by John Young,
[00:01:15.810]who forcibly took her, a free person, and forced her into slavery under his
[00:01:20.130]supervision for six months.
[00:01:22.290]This was until she was able to petition to the court, where she had to ask for
[00:01:26.010]permission to sue as a "poor person" through the
[00:01:29.460]1818 Missouri Freedom Statute,
[00:01:31.710]which granted her permission to sue. Her
[00:01:34.530]writ was granted by the court and she was able to proceed with her case.
[00:01:40.170]Thinking about this case in today's world,
[00:01:42.180]Dolly would be provided with proper legal aid to help her through the process to
[00:01:46.980]sue Young, rather than to have to petition
[00:01:50.760]to sue as a "poor person" first.
[00:01:55.590]Alice McKay V John and Della
[00:01:57.780]Kevan is an example of a custody dispute in which the mother used
[00:02:02.490]habeas against a couple,
[00:02:04.860]the Kevans, who unlawfully had custody of her daughter, Mary McKay.
[00:02:10.110]Alice McKay had petitioned for custody of her daughter before,
[00:02:13.740]but was seen as too poor to care for her by the court.
[00:02:18.270]She states that there is no legal adoption from this couple,
[00:02:22.230]that she is a fit and capable person to be granted custody of her daughter.
[00:02:26.790]During this case,
[00:02:27.960]she is often questioned about her economic status during testimonies,
[00:02:31.710]and is portrayed as poor by the defendants in order to discredit her and
[00:02:35.970]her ability to be a fit.
[00:02:37.230]parent. We see,
[00:02:39.630]not only in this case,
[00:02:40.800]but in many other custody disputes that mothers are often portrayed as too poor
[00:02:44.910]to try to discredit them
[00:02:46.710]as parental poverty is something that comes up a lot during these.
[00:02:51.480]disputes. Since time,
[00:02:53.970]there has been the creation of programs and social services and ensure that
[00:02:57.930]poverty is not the main reason in which a parent loses custody of their
[00:03:02.470]child,
[00:03:03.430]along with reform to help these parents be able to provide for their children.
[00:03:08.860]The next example is Washington v. Mary O'Neill. O'Neill was charged with
[00:03:13.630]vagrancy and is restrained of her liberty,
[00:03:17.350]but has not confessed to any crime at the time.
[00:03:21.250]She was given the option of paying a fine of a hundred dollars or serving three
[00:03:25.300]months in the county jail. After filing a Habeas petition,
[00:03:29.140]she was granted release by the court for this particular case,
[00:03:33.040]but we read later on that Mary was arrested multiple times for the same crime of
[00:03:37.720]Vagrancy, where instead of petitioning
[00:03:42.250]for a writ, she
[00:03:44.230]confesses to the crime and serves the time.
[00:03:47.530]We see in the Washington statute, that Vagrancy did not only mean homeless,
[00:03:52.030]rather, it had
[00:03:53.260]a pretty large range of people who officers were granted
[00:03:58.090]permission to arrest and bring them before the court, where they either had to
[00:04:02.290]pay in which most cases, people could not afford,
[00:04:08.080]or serve the sentence
[00:04:09.970]which was usually around three months.
[00:04:12.640]These laws increased
[00:04:14.110]the policing and incarceration of poor people who then use habeas to petition the
[00:04:18.130]accusations made by
[00:04:19.300]the court. Today, this
[00:04:21.520]is not a crime that one can be charged with,
[00:04:23.980]but these Vagrant laws were around until the 1960s,
[00:04:27.790]which targeted poor people in the streets until then.
[00:04:32.200]William Warden v. Butterfield is an example of an indigent petitioner
[00:04:37.570]with poor defense.
[00:04:39.820]Warden was restrain of his liberty without a warrant or process of the law,
[00:04:43.660]where he states in his petition
[00:04:45.010]that he was a poor man who does not have any means of being able to pay for
[00:04:49.540]fines, court fees, or such legal aid,
[00:04:53.830]like an attorney.
[00:04:55.780]He has no property or any other means to afford these fees.
[00:05:00.160]After spending time in jail, without being convicted of a crime,
[00:05:04.330]his writ was granted, where he is released and does not have to pay any fees.
[00:05:10.270]For those whose writ is not granted,
[00:05:12.160]they must pay the fees that come with petitioning.
[00:05:15.940]Today, although
[00:05:17.200]not nearly a perfect system,
[00:05:18.910]there is the creation of public defenders for indigent people.
[00:05:22.750]The Supreme court case of Gideon v. Wainwright was a movement that required
[00:05:26.320]states to provide public defense attorneys for those who cannot afford one.
[00:05:31.540]This would prevent those, who are in similar situations as a Warden,
[00:05:35.920]who are held in custody, but are not convicted of a crime.
[00:05:42.160]Significance and Conclusion. Looking at these cases gives us a better insight as
[00:05:46.810]to how the poor, despite facing many obstacles,
[00:05:50.230]use the mechanisms of the law to find their way to freedom or custody.
[00:05:55.420]Individually encoding and using digital research methods allows for
[00:05:59.990]researchers to analyze thousands of petitions for evidence of the poor people's
[00:06:04.880]use of the law. This could suggest
[00:06:06.960]new insights regarding the nature and origin of legal reform movements
[00:06:12.530]that help address the concerns and obstacles poor people face.
[00:06:17.780]We know that these changes did not happen overnight,
[00:06:20.210]but a lot comes from the constant push of these petitioners,
[00:06:23.600]some being poor, to
[00:06:26.120]push for social change through the use of the law.
[00:06:32.380]I want to thank you again for taking the time to listen to my presentation and
[00:06:36.370]another, thank you to Dr. Katrina Jagodinsky,
[00:06:39.130]the CDRH and the GSEF program. Thank you.

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The Poor People’s Petition: Four Uses of Habeas Corpus Among the Poor in Washington and Missouri in the 19th Century

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