FERGUSON MO. COURTS: DEBTORS' PRISONS?

www.CharlesJeromeWare.com.  "Here to make a difference."  [Excerpt from the Associated Press, Thursday, December 18, 2014; Alan Scher Zagier]
Victim Michael Brown's untimely homicide by a local police officer is just one of the many grievances of the African American community against Ferguson, (St. Louis County) Missouri officials and government.  In addition to the police, the town's municipal traffic has also been a prominent burden on local Blacks.
On a daily basis it has been in Ferguson's municipal traffic courts that low-income African American drivers have frequently seen their lives turned upside down by minor traffic offenses that have led to much larger problems.  If the traffic tickets are left unpaid a $75 citation, for example, for driving with expired tags could in a relatively short period of time end up with an arrest warrant and even jail time.
St. Louis, County's 80 municipal courts (including Ferguson) are now being targeted by public-interest lawyers who argue that the traffic courts are virtual debtors' prisons; wrongfully extracting fines and fees from poor Black drivers and using the wrongfully-gained money to fund local governments, several in which serve just a few hundred White residents.
"They make people poor, and they keep people poor," said attorney Thomas Harvey of the nonprofit legal clinic ArchCity Defenders, which is suing Ferguson and six other St. Louis County small towns, alleging they collect illegal municipal court fees.
[And see, Chapter 19 - "Avoiding Debtor's Prison In The United States," Legal Consumer Tips And Secrets: Avoiding Debtors' Prison in the United States, by Attorney Charles Jerome Ware]
www.CharlesJeromeWare.com. "Here to make a difference." We can help you. Guaranteed.
Among his numerous other legal awards and honors such as "America's Best Attorneys and Counselors", U.S. Super Lawyer, "Top Lawyers in America", Top Attorneys and Counselors in the U.S., "Top Lawyers in Maryland", and winner of the national "Charles Hamilton Houston Award for Outstanding Litigation", premier criminal defense attorney Charles Ware is recognized and ranked by hi many satisfied clients as well as his legal peers as "One of the 10 BEST DUI and DWI Attorneys in the State of Maryland," as confirmed from research, surveys and other investigation by The American Institute of DUI and DWI Attorneys [AIDUIA] --- a respected national organization of trial lawyers.
Attorney Ware is also the founder and senior partner of the Maryland-based national business, criminal defense and civil trial law firm Charles Jerome Ware, Attorneys & Counselors, LLC. For an initial courtesy consultation, call Mr. Ware at (410) 730-5016 or (410) 720-6129.