As a town neighboring Ferguson agreed to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit by bringing sweeping reforms to its municipal court this week, officials in charge of St. Louis County’s fractured judicial system announced a set of changes that seemed intended to ensure their continued existence.
St. Louis County’s municipal court system — which has been troubled for decades — came under heavier scrutiny following the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown Jr. last August. Residents subjected to the courts described them as “out of control,” “inhumane,” “crazy,” “racist,” “unprofessional” and “sickening.”
In Ferguson and surrounding cities, municipal courts had no meaningful adversarial system, and city officials saw the courts as revenue generators, rather than places of justice. Many municipalities in the region had more outstanding arrest warrants than they did residents, and some even issued arrest warrants for missed court dates associated with tickets for grass that was too tall or pants that were too baggy. Many spent days hopping from jail to jail because they could not afford to purchase their freedom.
On Friday, August 28, changes to the municipal court system brought on by a new Missouri law passed in the wake of the Ferguson protests went into effect. The legislation, pushed by state Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Glendale), was supported by everyone from top law enforcement officials to the American Civil Liberties Union to the Tea Party and was signed into law by Gov. Jay Nixon.
In a statement on Friday, Schmitt said the law will have an impact on “bloated bureaucracies” and ensure that they serve – not “extort” – citizens. The bill set certain standards for municipalities and places a cap on the percentage of revenue that cities can bring in from traffic tickets. Municipalities which don’t turn over their access revenue would face ballot questions that would allow residents to disincorporate and become part of the county.
A day ahead of the law going into effect, two separate announcements laid out two separate and distinct visions of what the future of St. Louis County’s municipal court system could look like.
First there’s Jennings, a municipality of around 14,000 people that neighbors Ferguson. When reporters from The Huffington Post visited Jennings Municipal Court last year, nearly every person waiting to make their monthly payment was black, while the court officials were nearly universally white. Those who could afford to pay $100 or more per month did not have to show up to court. Those who could afford the largest payments had to spend the least time in court, while those who couldn’t afford anything had to sit in court for hours. If they didn’t physically show up on a particular night each month, a warrant would be issued for their arrest.
Charles Anthony Chatman Jr., who was 24, allegedly killed himself inside the Jennings jail in 2013. DeJuan Brison, 26, allegedly hung himself inside Jennings jail in 2014. Both were being held until they put up money for bail, which is supposed to simply guarantee a future court appearance.
Jennings and Ferguson were both sued in federal court earlier this year. ArchCity Defenders, Equal Justice Under Law and Saint Louis University School of Law brought the lawsuit on behalf of people who were locked up in what they say amounted to debtor’s prison. Under the agreement, fixed cash bail systems would essentially be eliminated, meaning that no one will be locked up for days simply because they couldn’t afford to give the government money. The agreement also bans Jennings from imposing additional fees on individuals participating in payment plans. Individuals unable to pay fees will have the option of performing community service at a fixed rate of at least $10 per hour.
Hours after that agreement was announced, a number of municipal judges held a press conference to announce changes that the dozens of other municipal courts in St. Louis County had agreed to implement. Over 80 courts agreed to implement some reforms, like getting rid of failure to appear charges and ending license suspensions. They were also working on changes to their unconstitutional fixed cash bail systems, which Jennings had already agreed to eliminate.
But even their announcement illustrated some of the problems with the municipal court system: officials couldn’t even say how many of the tiny, part-time courts had agreed to specific changes.
St. Louis County recently received a grant from the MacArthur Foundation to help develop a plan to reduce its jail population. But while acknowledging that many of the criticisms of the municipal courts were valid, the judges made clear that the system isn’t going down without a fight.
The civil rights advocates “who want us to shut down completely because of the abuses of some courts” are wrong, said Frank Vatterott, the municipal court judge overseeing the implementation of changes.
“Warrants are still a part of our law, and will be issued for people who do not show up,” said Michael Gunn, who serves as municipal court judge in Manchester. “We’re not saying here that the concept of warrants has been abolished in St. Louis County. It hasn’t been, nor do any of the citizens here want it to be.”
Thomas Harvey of ArchCity Defenders said the announcement really is all about self-preservation, and amounts to a public relations campaign.
“When players in the system like Judge Frank Vatterott say, ‘People thank us for having municipal courts,’ we have to ask the question: What does he mean by ‘people’?’” Harvey said in an interview.
“Because not a single client I have ever represented – not a single poor person, not a single homeless person, not a single African-American person in the region I have ever represented in the thousands of people that we’ve represented in municipal courts in the past five years – has ever said, ‘Thank God the municipal court system exists.’”
Instead, “The municipal court system has literally destroyed their lives,” Harvey said. “Locked them in jail for being poor, mocked them for being poor while they’re in jail, caused them to lose jobs, caused them to lose housing.”
Simply getting rid of the warrants, Harvey said, isn’t enough. Instead, municipalities should forgive the fines and dismiss the cases.
“Courts are not about making money, they’re about the administration of justice,” Harvey said. “That’s been our goal all along: to have a just and fair legal system that works for poor people, not just middle-class white folks in St. Louis County.”
This story is published as part of a partnership between The St. Louis American and The Huffington Post.
