Bearden v. Georgia | |
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Argued January 11, 1983 Decided May 24, 1983 | |
Full case name | Bearden v. Georgia |
Citations | 461 U.S. 660 (more) 103 S. Ct. 2064; 76 L. Ed. 2d 221; 1983 U.S. LEXIS 39 |
Case history | |
Prior | Bearden v. State, 161 Ga. App. 640, 288 S.E.2d 662 (Ct. App. 1982); cert. granted, 458 U.S. 1105 (1982). |
Holding | |
A sentencing court cannot properly revoke a defendant's probation for failure to pay a fine and make restitution, absent evidence and findings that he was somehow responsible for the failure or that alternative forms of punishment were inadequate to meet the State's interest in punishment and deterrence, and hence the trial court erred in automatically revoking petitioner's probation and turning the fine into a prison sentence without making such a determination. | |
Court membership | |
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Case opinions | |
Majority | O'Connor, joined by Brennan, Marshall, Blackmun, Stevens |
Concurrence | White (in judgment), joined by Burger, Powell, Rehnquist |
Laws applied | |
U.S. Const. amend. XIV |
Bearden v. Georgia, 461 U.S. 660 (1983), was a landmark[1][2] U.S. Supreme Court case holding that a local government can only imprison or jail someone for not paying a fine if it can be shown, by means of a hearing, that the person in question could have paid it but "willfully" chose not to do so.[3][4][5]: 232
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