Likely I need something within me 'enlightened' to better understand this program, but isn't this just teaching folks that they don't really have to "pay the cost to be the boss?"

http://www.startribune.com/for...nd-chance/423355603/

When Pilisi Lane first saw an ad on Facebook for Warrant Forgiveness Day, an event claiming to resolve outstanding misdemeanor warrants in Hennepin County, she thought it was a setup.

She moved from Minneapolis to Phoenix, Ariz. three years ago with a warrant for driving without insurance and a suspended license hanging over her head. It was difficult for her to land a permanent job, let alone one with proper benefits.

“A warrant is a warrant, and we don’t look at it as petty or misdemeanor,” Lane said. “When it’s a warrant, you’re scared.”

Then she learned local chapters of the ACLU and NAACP were co-sponsoring the event. She booked a flight to Minneapolis and was one of the first in line at the Sabathani Community Center on a rainy Saturday morning.

Lane met with a judge in a makeshift courtroom on the center’s auditorium. The judge resolved her case, reduced her community service to two hours and removed a $128 fine.

“I flew all the way here, just for this,” she said. “It was worth it.”

She couldn't do some community service and pay a $128 fine so she lived with a warrant, but yet could afford to fly back to take care of it?

quote:

“If we can give someone this opportunity so that it won’t be so stressful for them to walk around the city or work ... that’ll be great,” Barnette said.

It costs $132 a night to keep someone in jail, a cost greater than the bail for many of these misdemeanors.

“We’re saving the county money by taking care of people’s warrants,” Barnette said.

Sounds like bullshit to me. We'll let them off the hook because it stresses them out and we're saving money.

I'm all for it.

Take care of some of the warrants and issues without sending LEO resources to arrest some idiot. Let the cops spend their time on more useful pursuits, so to speak.

But only for non-violent things, like unpaid parking tickets or the like.

Why the hell is a $128 misdemeanor worthy of arrest and jail time?

This is the sort of picayune overreach that I despise about the government. If you are a serial violator with a bunch of misdemeanors that you never clear, fine; get branded a scofflaw and get sent to the pokey under a separate charge. For example, 3 uncleared misdemeanors becomes a low level felony.

If you have one misdemeanor charge which the state regards as less valuable than a traffic ticket, the state should figure out a way to deal with it administratively and get rid of it.

This is a clumsy, stupid bureaucratic system, with a dumb name, but it seems to be working. She now has a clean record, but is out significant time and hassle, and probably realizes that if she had dealt with it properly the first time, it would have cost her less time and hassle. Isn't that a good outcome?

ETA: And as Paragon notes, it clears up the police to worry about real stuff.

I am beginning to see the light.

Would someone please send me a list of the low-level misdemeanors I can commit that will be forgiven?

Wouldn't it be easier to change the laws that define these pseudo-misdemeanors?

quote:

Would someone please send me a list of the low-level misdemeanors I can commit that will be forgiven?

Nice straw man there. This is a mechanism for clearing misdemeanors without a trial. You still appear before a judge, and that is always a risk. The judge could decline to process the administrative disposition and bind you over for trial.

quote:

Wouldn't it be easier to change the laws that define these pseudo-misdemeanors?

Easier? Probably not. The right thing to do, probably so.

Note that I am not saying there shouldn't be a penalty for these low level offenses against civil order. I'm saying that the penalty shouldn't clog up the courts and the jails with bullshit.

quote:

Originally posted by ArtieS:

quote:

Wouldn't it be easier to change the laws that define these pseudo-misdemeanors?

Easier? Probably not. The right thing to do, probably so.

Note that I am not saying there shouldn't be a penalty for these low-level offenses against civil order. I'm saying that the penalty shouldn't clog up the courts and the jails with bullshit.

Whenever I hear "why don't we just fix the law" all I can think of is the "how a bill becomes a law" song from school. After all, we've only tried fixing healthcare laws maybe six times now?

It sounds like the county identified a problem within its bureaucratic system and rather than expending more resources than they gain dragging people to court created a solution which while not perfect alleviates the financial burden of "victimless crimes" I.E. forgot your driver's license at home, driving five - ten miles over the speed limit, stealing a loaf of bread.

After all, I suspect the alternative is increased taxes to fund the LEO's, judges and bounty hunters, to transport every single offender back to sit in court for something the political system would lose even more money on.

I'm not saying it's the right answer, people who do crime get time. It just seems a waste of resources for the COURT to pay XXX number of dollars in gas/man hours to find someone v.s. making someones life so miserable by having a warrant out that the offender instead elects to come forward and resolve. Providing them a means to do so just makes good business sense. At least to me.

For those who think this is a good thing. In Virginia driving without a license is a serious charge (and I think it should be worse). I don't like all the Mexicans running around in their unsafe cars and no insurance. Where you guys live it may not be a problem, here it certainly is.

Driving w/o license is 6mo jail, $1000 fine. First offense usually ends up with $500 fine and a weekend or two in jail, sometimes they take you on the day of court. I'm not sure what the driving w/o insurance is, butt should be twice as bad as driving without license. Then there's the failure to appear charge she missed out on, how much fine/jail did she Dodge for that? They didn't even mention it.

I'm guessing here, but my bet is this lady didn't have a squeaky clean record to begin with.

I'm a fan of "do the crime, do the time". Why should this law breaker get less of a punishment than I would get for going 10-15mph over with me having a near perfect driving record? We want to reward people who break the laws and then give the middle finger to the judge/courts by not paying? I don't like to reward bad behavior.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
We want to reward people who break the laws and then give the middle finger to the judge/courts by not paying? I don't like to reward bad behavior.

I think the important thing here though is just because they appear befor the judge doesn't mean they will automaticaly get forgiven. The judge reserves the right to have the baliff slap them in irons and hold them over for a real trial.

Correct?

quote:

Originally posted by ArtieS:
Why the hell is a $128 misdemeanor worthy of arrest and jail time?

This is the sort of picayune overreach that I despise about the government. If you are a serial violator with a bunch of misdemeanors that you never clear, fine; get branded a scofflaw and get sent to the pokey under a separate charge. For example, 3 uncleared misdemeanors becomes a low level felony.

If you have one misdemeanor charge which the state regards as less valuable than a traffic ticket, the state should figure out a way to deal with it administratively and get rid of it.

This is a clumsy, stupid bureaucratic system, with a dumb name, but it seems to be working. She now has a clean record, but is out significant time and hassle, and probably realizes that if she had dealt with it properly the first time, it would have cost her less time and hassle. Isn't that a good outcome?

ETA: And as Paragon notes, it clears up the police to worry about real stuff.

Well, if the dumb lady in story had taken care of the tickets in the first place, she wouldn't have had to use the amnesty now, would she?

I guess to you, personal responsibility doesn't matter if its just a misdemeanor.

quote:

Originally posted by logrusmaster:

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
We want to reward people who break the laws and then give the middle finger to the judge/courts by not paying? I don't like to reward bad behavior.

I think the important thing here though is just because they appear befor the judge doesn't mean they will automaticaly get forgiven. The judge reserves the right to have the baliff slap them in irons and hold them over for a real trial.

Correct?

I just clicked the link and read the whole article. Now I am more pissed off then I was at first. I read reduced to $128 fine, it said removed the fine. She also had to spend two hours writing letters to family and some people in jail. How the #@$^ is writing your family community service?

She had the money and chose not to pay the fine because she thought the law didn't apply to her. Fuck her. How do I know this? Because she had money to move across the country, then more money for a plane ticket to fly back for court when she knew that she would get out of trouble.

There is no way I will ever be for giving less punishment to those that flout the law then those who are productive members of society. I don't care if it costs more money, it's about principle.

Not a lot of people understand the system and may have made smaller mistakes and then just get scared. I suppose this makes some sense to have a simple mechanism for people to clear things up and move on and hopefully become productive citizens.

quote:

Would someone please send me a list of the low-level misdemeanors I can commit that will be forgiven?

I can think of one. Obstructing a sidewalk. Spitting on a sidewalk however is a health issue, and should not be forgiven. Not wearing a seatbelt fine with me.

quote:

Originally posted by Paragon:
I'm all for it.

Take care of some of the warrants and issues without sending LEO resources to arrest some idiot. Let the cops spend their time on more useful pursuits, so to speak.

But only for non-violent things, like unpaid parking tickets or the like.

I agree.

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