Courting Justice in California
By Jeremy Loudenback
Aside from robust voter turnout in last week’s city election, the most positive result of protests in Ferguson over policing practices may be attention to inequities in other parts of its criminal-justice system.
Accounts by the Washington Post and last month’s Department of Justice report about Ferguson have called attention to the ways that law enforcement agencies—including the Ferguson Police Department—in St. Louis County have been tasked with generating revenue for the municipal court system, often at the expense of public safety. Numerous accounts have documented the way that overly harsh penalties for missed payments or court appearances have had devastating consequences for St. Louis County communities, including for many low-income and African-American residents.
A new report released last week suggests that California may not be so different from Ferguson. The civil rights group Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights in San Francisco says that municipal court practices in California are “chillingly similar” to the situation in Ferguson.
Escalating court fees and fines have cost more than four million state residents to lose their driver’s licenses because of a failure to appear in court or pay a citation, some of which have nothing to do with driving at all. Without a driver’s license, many Californians struggle to find and keep jobs, maintain good credit, and stay out of poverty.
The report points to the case of a cook named Sam to illustrate the plight of many low-income residents dangerously entangled in the court system. Because of his participation in a rehab program that required him to stay at a facility, Sam was unable to appear in court for two unpaid tickets. As a result, his license was suspended, and his job prospects suffered. Despite professional training as a chef, several restaurants have turned him down for employment because of the suspended license. Sam remains unemployed and on public assistance.
The situation of Sam and others is compounded by the fact that many municipalities have dealt with budget shortfalls in recent years. Agencies like the court system have raised their fees to cover costs, placing more pressure on low-income Californians to come up with the money. And law-enforcement agencies are increasingly charged with arresting and prosecuting residents for driving on suspended licenses, diverting law enforcement resources away from other public safety priorities.
The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights recommends that California curtail the use of license suspensions as a collection tool for citation-related debt and that the state makes sure that access to the courts and due process are not dependent on income, among other suggestions.
You can read the report here.