PATRICIA BRECKENRIDGE: Thank you very much. The first thing we did was look at the structure of the justice system. To give you a history lesson, in the late `70s, the Missouri Constitution was amended to make district courts divisions of district courts. Our constitution has also been amended to give district court presidents and the Supreme Court oversight of municipal districts. However, municipal judges and court officials, as well as municipal institutions, are controlled and remunerated by municipalities. Because of this arrangement, municipal divisions have acted historically autonomously. In fact, at the time of the events in Ferguson, there was no master list of how many boroughs they existed, or who the judges were. We had to change our culture – change that way of thinking. We have stated very publicly that municipal divisions are part of our district courts and that all members of the judiciary have the right to be treated with respect and have their cases decided in accordance with the law, and that we are committed to ensuring that this happens in every municipal department. Revenue from fines and fees funds multiple levels of government, largely because lawmakers charge court fees as an alternative to raising taxes. This punishment is also counterproductive. footnote5_0qdigt8 5 Texas Fair Defense Project and Texas Appleseed, Driven by Debt: How Driver`s License Suspensions for Unpaid Fines and Fees Texas Families, 2017, stories.texasappleseed.org/driven-by-debt. As with incarceration, suspending a person`s driver`s license makes it less likely that they will be able to pay the debt, as it is difficult in most parts of the United States to have a job without access to a car.
The licence suspension also harms families who rely on their cars to buy food, take their children to school, receive medical care and meet other needs. Enforcement of suspended licences becomes an unnecessary and costly priority for law enforcement officers who could be used more effectively to prevent or respond to serious crime. BRECKENRIDGE: I think there may be. Judges have the ability to bring stakeholders together to discuss important issues, whether or not they have the power to guide participants` behaviour. Simply meeting and discussing problems can lead to collaborative solutions. In Missouri, our first goal was to make sure the courts were doing business. But you are absolutely right. This is a complex issue that will require system-wide changes. If the judicial system does not have sufficient and stable resources for staff, buildings or technology and other resources, there is a risk of delays in processing cases that are important to the lives of individuals and to the livelihoods of businesses. And there is a risk that opportunities to maximize taxpayer investments will be lost due to modernizing and improving court processes. For the 2014-2015 fiscal year, the state justice system encourages the state to invest in the people, places and justice tools necessary to make the justice system work effectively and efficiently for the benefit of those for whom the system exists.
Such measures will not eliminate reasonable fees, but will ensure that the courts remain courts and not vehicles for collecting taxes. All court administrators are sensitive and realistic about the fact that this is a time when we work with limited and scarce public resources. And because funding is so closely tied to this particular issue, we are concerned that solutions that could lead to cuts in one area could have implications for access and equity in other areas and what the courts do. Therefore, we focus not only on the complex implications of some of these decisions, but also on funding formulas and system-wide implications. Part of the reason they do is economic reality: in regions hit by recession or falling tax revenues, fines and fees help pay the bills. (The cost of housing and food for inmates may be subsidized by the state.) As documented by the Justice Center for Fines and Costs, a New York-based advocacy group, fines for the poor are now a major source of revenue for communities across the country. In Alabama, for example, the Southern Poverty Law Center took up the case of a woman jailed for missing a hearing date related to an unpaid utility bill. In Oregon, courts have imposed hefty fines on absentee parents. Many counties across the country engage in civil forfeiture, vehicle seizures, and money from people suspected (but not necessarily proven in court) of breaking the law.