Miles's blog

So the Adams County jail is going to ration municipal court prisoners. The jail is apparently overcrowded, so municipal prisoners will have to be reduced. Instead of just trying to work it out day to day the sheriff has decided to give a fixed number of beds to each city. I don’t know if this will work, but reading about this made me think of my time as a municipal court judge.

I was a relief judge in Lakewood for about four years and the Broomfield municipal judge for three months. (I could explain why my time there was so short, but just mark it down as another of my many jobs). As you might expect I was not shy about sending defendants to jail. I don’t think I was Judge Roy Bean, but I did believe in following-through on my promise to jail offenders who violated the terms of their probation or suspended sentences.

The common perception is that municipal court is just glorified traffic court, and really nothing in there is all that serious and why should anyone go to jail. Of course many people go to jail on arrest warrants for failure to appear. If a court cannot issue arrest warrants it is completely ineffective. More importantly, though, is that most urban municipal courts handle much more than minor traffic infractions. Both Lakewood and Broomfield prosecuted a large number of misdemeanor domestic violence cases in municipal court. There is no question that the threat of a jail sentence is necessary to assure compliance with court orders, primarily state-mandated classes, in domestic violence cases. Many other misdemeanors pass through municipal court including some weapons offenses, thefts, alcohol violations, and marijuana possession.

Municipal courts are an important, and often overlooked, part of our criminal justice system. A well-administered municipal court serves a very important role in a city, allowing for justice at the most basic level. Municipal ordinances constitute a large part of forming the feel of a city. Prosecutions of traffic cases are often done much better in an interested municipal court rather than an overworked county court. Even some misdemeanors can be better handled at the municipal level. I hope Adams County can figure out their jail situation so that their municipal courts can fulfill the role their citizens need.

Labels: municipal court

# posted by Miles Madorin : 5:36 PM