Yeah,a fair share of them are in prison for minor crimes like theft or selling drugs,but when they DO get out,the courts should INSIST they get steady job,even if they are minimum wage jobs,and contribute at least a small amount of their weekly checks to the children they helped create.
@sneakypete When I was an ass't county prosecutor, I handled child support enforcement cases under a contract we had with the state child support enforcement unit. All women on welfare (AFDC) were required to cooperate in paternity and child support proceedings or else lose their assistance. The money we collected reimbursed the state a tiny fraction for the aid paid out.
Some of the women would joke, "Good luck getting money out of him. His only job is selling drugs on the street corner." True enough, but we still got paternity and child support court orders, just in case the guy ever had a winning lottery ticket, because at least we could withhold any arrears from that payout.