John Marshall Harlan II

“ The second conceivable justification is that the jail alternative serves a penological purpose that cannot be served by collection of a fine over time. It is clear that having declared itself satisfied by a fine, the alternative of jail to a fine serves neither a rehabilitative nor a retributive interest. The question is, then, whether the requirement of a lump-sum payment can be sustained as a rational legislative determination that deterrence is effective only when a fine is exacted at once after sentence and by lump sum, rather than over a term. ”

“ Anyone who, in the judgment of the trial judge, should receive the stiffest penalty known to Illinois law for this crime may, if he possesses funds, satisfy the demands of the criminal law by paying the fine superimposed on the jail term. If he cannot pay his debt to society, it is surely not unequal, but, to the contrary, most equal, that some substitute sanction be imposed lest the individual of means be subjected to a harsher penalty than one who is impoverished. ”

“ If equal protection implications of the Court's opinion were to be fully realized, it would require that the consequence of punishment be comparable for all individuals; the State would be forced to embark on the impossible task of developing a system of individualized fines, so that the total disutility of the entire fine, or the marginal disutility of the last dollar taken, would be the same for all individuals. ”

“ Such a statute evinces the perfectly rational determination that some individuals will be adequately punished by a money fine, and others, indifferent to money-whether by virtue of indigency or other reasons-can be punished only by a jail term. ”

“ That the Illinois statute represents a considered judgment, evincing the belief that jail is a rational and necessary trade-off to punish the individual who possesses no accumulated assets seems most unlikely, since the substitute sentence provision, phrased in terms of a judgment collection statute, does not impose a discretionary jail term as an alternative sentence, but rather equates days in jail with a fixed sum. ”

“ It cannot be argued that the requirement of counsel on appeal is the right to the most skilled advocate who is theoretically at the call of the defendant of means. However desirable and enlightened a theory of social and economic equality may be, it is not a theory that has the blessing of the Fourteenth Amendment. ”

“ Not 'every major social ill in this country can find its cure in some constitutional 'principle,' and * * * this Court (is not equipped to) 'take the lead' in promoting reform when other branches of government fail to act. ”

“ Illinois, 351 U.S. 12, 34-36, 76 S.Ct. 585, 597-599, 100 L.Ed. 891 (1956) (dissenting opinion) ; Douglas v. California, 372 U.S. 353, 360, 83 S.Ct. 814, 818, 9 L.Ed.2d 811 (1963) (dissenting opinion) . I need not retrace the views expressed in these cases, except to object once again to this rhetorical preoccupation with 'equalizing' rather than analyzing the rationality of the legislative distinction in relation to legislative purpose. ”