Examples include the following: 1) the “Pig Laws,” which unfairly penalize Black people living in poverty for crimes such as stealing a farm animal; 2) harsh contract laws that penalize anyone who attempts to leave a job before an advance has been worked off; 3) vagrancy statutes that make it a crime to be unemployed; and 4) many misdemeanors or trivial offenses that are treated as felonies, with harsh sentences and fines. All of these laws provide the basis for Jim Crow policies to develop.