August 22, 2014 by legitgov

Ferguson Feeds Off the Poor: Three Warrants a Year Per Household 22 Aug 2014 Three times a month--one day and two nights--the City Council chamber also serves as home to the incredibly busy and extremely profitable Ferguson [Missouri] municipal court. A report issued just last week by the nonprofit lawyer's group ArchCity Defenders notes that in the court's 36 three-hour sessions in 2013, it handled 12,108 cases and 24,532 warrants. That is an average of 1.5 cases and three warrants per Ferguson household. Fines and court fees for the year in this city of just 21,000 people totaled $2,635,400. The sum made the municipal court the city's second-biggest source of revenue.

http://www.legitgov.org/Ferguson-Feeds-Poor-Three-Warrants-Year-Household