it’s not about putting people in jail for generic “debt”, it’s about putting people in jail for debts related to criminal offenses. you can argue about whether driving without insurnace, or even dui, should be a criminal offense. but it’s not just about debts. i can see a good argument for decriminalizing lack of insurance, and not criminalizing anything but very bad driving. how about this regime. legalize dui, legalize no insurance — but if you drive in any way that endangers anyone else, including running a red light, going 1 mph over the speed limit, you get 3 years prison. would that be preferable? is it unreasonable to regulate the risks we impose on each other? if you do it first with fines, and no one pays the fines, then you ahve no regulation over the risks we impose on one another. your bad credi card debt doens’t directly impose a risk on me — but your driving without insurance does. your continuing to drive without a license because you didn’t pay off your dui fines does also, because you wont be able to get insurance.
