In June, the Vera Institute of Justice released an evaluation commissioned by our court of our Probation Services. You can read the report here. Recommendations from the Vera report give us a path forward to undo systemic inequity and serve the people of Seattle most effectively. While we work to implement the report's recommendations, we want to keep you informed on our progress and get your feedback. Expect to see updates from our probation evolution process in this newsletter moving forward.
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A huge part of Seattle Community Court is moving away from jail as a response to low-level misdemeanors. In July, SMC's bench voted to pursue a process to default all warrants issued for a failure to appear for a court date for a Community Court-eligible charge to be PR’able. Under this proposal, when an individual comes into contact with law enforcement, they will not be arrested on their low-level failure to appear warrant. Instead, the police officer will be able to quash the warrant in the field and provide the individual with a court date to appear and resolve the case.
This month, Seattle Municipal Court judges voted to eliminate all discretionary fines and fees imposed in criminal cases, representing one step in a court-wide commitment to lessen barriers and increase equity in the legal system.
The judges voted unanimously to permanently eliminate the probation supervision fee, records check fee, work crew fee, and community service setup fee. These changes are expected to benefit over 1,000 individuals per year. This is effective September 16, 2020.
Seattle Municipal Court judges have waived these fees in the majority of cases where it has been determined that individuals do not have the means to pay them. The decision to eliminate the fees for all individuals is a further statement that the court does not believe in charging people for court-imposed supervision. Read more here.
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