Ferguson Announces an Amnesty on Warrants By JOHN ELIGON and MITCH SMITHAUG. 24, 2015 Continue reading the main story Share This Page The City of Ferguson, Mo., announced Monday that it was withdrawing thousands of arrest warrants for municipal violations and taking steps to prevent the incarceration of people who cannot pay fines and fees, a response to the sharp criticism of its court system that emerged after the killing of Michael Brown last year. The measures go beyond a state law set to take effect on Friday that limits the amount of money municipalities can keep from minor traffic offenses and imposes safeguards on the amount of time people can be locked up for failing to pay fines and fees. Several other municipalities in the region have announced similar warrant amnesties. “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,” Mayor James Knowles III said. Yet court reform advocates, while applauding the measures as a step in the right direction, said the region’s municipal court system needed a complete overhaul. They questioned whether the changes announced Monday would withstand changing financial times and changing judges, and whether the new standards could be enforced. Continue reading the main story “Until we have full-time professional courts that don’t have conflicts of interest and can be meaningfully monitored, all of these municipalities are going to undo progress whenever they need the money,” said Brendan Roediger, a professor of law at St. Louis University School of Law. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/25/us/ferguson-announces-an-amnesty-on-warrants.html?_r=0