A new judge in Ferguson, Missouri, announced the withdrawal of thousands of arrest warrants stemming from municipal violations this week, responding to a critical U.S. Justice Department investigation conducted in the wake of Michael Brown's death.
According to NBC News, Judge Donald McCullin canceled all arrest warrants issued before 2015, the vast majority of which were issued for failure to appear in court or failure to pay fines.
"These changes should continue the process of restoring confidence in the Court, alleviating fears of the consequences of appearing in Court, and giving many residents a fresh start," said McCullin, who was appointed in June.
"The hope is we can go through and have people come, get right, get rid of the excess fines and fees, and have people deal with the original issue that brought them before the law," explained Mayor James Knowles III.
Following the shooting death of Michael Brown, which led to riots in Ferguson, the city bureaucracy has faced intense scrutiny. The justice department in March released an investigation report that alleged the court and police force prioritized raising revenue over enacting justice.
According to Reuters, the justice department said that minor violations regularly turned into multiple arrests, jail time, and payments that exceeded the cost of the original ticket many times over.
"What emerged from the discussion was a portrait of a court system that jailed people for minor traffic violations, and then piled on fines and fees. Activists, residents and political leaders criticized these small towns as using their courts to fill city coffers,"
wrote The New York Times.
"Big government is not a victimless crime,"
commented the editorial board of the Washington Examiner.
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