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 Tunnel Hill, Georgia resident, Danny Bearden was convicted of robbery for breaking into a trailer as a young man.

[8] Bearden's case was handled by Jim Lohr, a court-appointed attorney who had graduated from law school only a few years earlier.

[10] The ruling also held that courts must consider alternatives to imprisonment and determine that they are insufficient to "meet the state's interest in punishment and deterrence" before sending someone to prison for nonpayment of a fine.

[11] Some attorneys with many poor clients have argued that the requirement in Bearden that judges consider a defendant's ability to pay is almost never enforced.