Small Scale Analysis of the Municipal Court System

Small Scale Analysis of the Municipal Court System in St. Louis County 1 By: Ananya Benegal, Sam Jamison, Grace Lu, Kinaan Patel, Kirby Simon St. John Only court visited with an external waiting room Population Statistics St. John Ferguson Kirkwood Population Size (sq. miles) Per Capita Income ($) % African American % White 6, 517 1. 4 19, 815 23. 7 64. 6 21, 203 6. 2 21, 000 67. 4 29. 3 27, 540 9. 2 32, 012 7. 0 89. 4 Kirkwood Able to hear proceedings despite not having a microphone in the room Ferguson $26. 50 “court costs” fee for pleading guilty Judge had an excessive number of assistants Average case hearing time was 1 minute and 32 seconds (based on 50 cases) Defendants had an opportunity to talk to both judge and prosecutor before finalizing plea No strict order in calling defendants up Only court with an African American judge Many cases were deferred or had charges dropped No check-in; court proceeded alphabetically through each docket Attorneys never interacted with the judge, would go into separate room to talk to an assistant No security or police officers within the courtroom Everyone fit comfortably in the courtrooms Kids were allowed in the courtrooms Courts were professional spaces and had security policies References and Images: http: //www. cityofstjohn. org/ http: //www. kirkwoodmo. org/ https: //www. twitter. com/kirkwoodcity http: //www. city-data. com https: //www. courts. mo. gov/file. jsp? id=96435 http: //www. occasionalplanet. org/2015/03/09/mo-supreme-court-closes-fergusons-kangaroo-court-whos-next/ http: //www. mosbybuildingarts. com/blog/2008/02/15/kirkwood-renewal-a-week-in-the-life-of-a-healing-city/ http: //www. country 94. ca/news/1195214288/nine-saint-john-police-officers-being-honoured-their-service Inability to hear conversation between judge and defendant Majority of people in “positions of power” were white Hearing time for each case was very short In Kirkwood and St. John, African American population was overrepresented 5 35000 4. 5 30000 4 25000 3. 5 3 20000 2. 5 15000 2 1. 5 10000 1 5000 0. 5 0 0 St. John Ferguson Traffic Tickets Per Capita Kirkwood Per Capita Income ($) People in “positions of power” were helpful and welcoming Cons Traffic Tickets Per Capita Pros Comparison of Per Capita Data