Fines and court costs are Ferguson's 2nd highest source of income for the town. 90 percent of those fined / or have warrants issued are African Americans. It turns out a lot of the warrants are for non violent crimes. During routine traffic stops or rolling stops, a police officer will cite them for what are called the three big poverty crimes. They're usually ticketed for driving with a suspended license, no proof of having car insurance, and failure to register a vehicle. The reason typically are they can't afford to pay for these things.
So once they're cited, they get brought into a magistrate, and a bond hearing typically sets with bail at the exact dollar amount of the fines, so the person who has no ability to pay the fine, or even get the things which would have prevent the citation in the first place, when they appear before a judge, even if they make a statement they can't pay the fine or the bond, they're often jailed.
On a personal note: I have seen that happen myself in a traffic court. A white woman in her 40s had been caught driving 3 times under a suspended license. She had a lawyer, and got off with only a fine and community service. In the afternoon court session: a 22 year old African male was caught driving with a suspended license. 1st offense. He was sentenced to 40 hours in jail, but he was allowed to serve time on the weekends.
A group of pro-bono lawyers in St. Louis have drafted a white paper (http://www.archcitydefenders.org/whitepaper.pdf)after a 5 year study of the court system, with some common sense solutions to this issue. They ask that the mayor overturn the warrants, and if he doesn't have the legal authority (the mayor's claim), then certainly the prosecutors and judges have the discretion not put these folks in jail.
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So once they're cited, they get brought into a magistrate, and a bond hearing typically sets with bail at the exact dollar amount of the fines, so the person who has no ability to pay the fine, or even get the things which would have prevent the citation in the first place, when they appear before a judge, even if they make a statement they can't pay the fine or the bond, they're often jailed.
On a personal note: I have seen that happen myself in a traffic court. A white woman in her 40s had been caught driving 3 times under a suspended license. She had a lawyer, and got off with only a fine and community service. In the afternoon court session: a 22 year old African male was caught driving with a suspended license. 1st offense. He was sentenced to 40 hours in jail, but he was allowed to serve time on the weekends.
A group of pro-bono lawyers in St. Louis have drafted a white paper (http://www.archcitydefenders.org/whitepaper.pdf)after a 5 year study of the court system, with some common sense solutions to this issue. They ask that the mayor overturn the warrants, and if he doesn't have the legal authority (the mayor's claim), then certainly the prosecutors and judges have the discretion not put these folks in jail.
http://colorlines.com/archives/2014/08/learning_from_ferguson_the_danger_of_criminal_debt.html