Fines and other financial sanctions are frequently imposed by criminal justice systems around the world. Yet they also raise grave concerns about economic discrimination. Unless they are perfectly scaled to defendants’ financial circumstances, they will penalize poor persons far more than rich ones—and poor defendants’ inability to pay can lead to further penalties like imprisonment or additional financial sanctions. These “poverty penalties” have received attention in domestic jurisdictions but are understudied as a global phenomenon. This Article takes up this issue and makes three contributions. First, it demonstrates that poverty penalties are prevalent in criminal justice systems around the world. Second, it shows how poverty penalties came to be overlooked in international human rights law and describes how this is starting to change. Third, the Article makes the normative case for addressing poverty penalties within human rights law and offers suggestions for how this can be achieved.

中文翻译：

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作为人权问题的贫困处罚

世界各地的刑事司法系统经常实施罚款和其他经济制裁。然而，他们也对经济歧视表示严重担忧。除非它们完全适应被告的财务状况，否则它们对穷人的惩罚将远远超过富人——而贫穷的被告无力支付可能会导致进一步的处罚，如监禁或额外的经济制裁。这些“贫困惩罚”在国内司法管辖区引起了关注，但作为一种全球现象却没有得到充分研究。本文讨论了这个问题并做出了三点贡献。首先，它表明贫困处罚在世界各地的刑事司法系统中普遍存在。其次，它展示了国际人权法中贫困处罚如何被忽视，并描述了这种情况如何开始改变。第三，