Although there are only a few problem courts in the state, Gov. Jay Nixon said Friday, the problems highlighted by the unrest after last summer's killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson and this week's Department of Justice report on that North St. Louis County town show Missouri's municipal court operations need some changing.
In an 18-minute address to the Missouri Bar, Nixon said: "The events of the past several months have given us, really, a lot to reflect on - about how we see and treat one another, the meaning of public service and ways to improve the institutions that serve as the bedrock of our democracy."
The DOJ report said some things Missourians already knew - that all are not together when it comes to believing in justice or the courts will give everyone "a fair shake."
"We have a serious problem, and one that we all must work together to solve," the governor said. "As we look toward the future of our justice system and our society, we must recommit ourselves to the bedrock values and principles that called us to this profession in the first place - Justice. Equality. Fairness. Accountability. And respect for the rule of law."
The DOJ report shows, "in some communities across our state" and not just in Ferguson, many Missourians' trust of the legal system "has been severely eroded," Nixon said. "The DOJ's report lays out in stark, exhaustive detail the practices of a system that too often profits from its most vulnerable citizens."
The biggest problem, Nixon said, is in a number of Missouri cities and towns, "These courts are operating to raise revenue rather than to serve justice - and often doing so on the backs of those who are least able to pay," in the local courts that, "for the vast majority of Missourians, (are) their first encounter - quite frankly, their only encounter - with the justice system."
Nixon said the Legislature is taking a good first step toward fixing part of the problem, by working to remove the incentive cities currently have to use their courts and police as sources of revenue, because "Our court system exists to protect the safety of our citizens - not profit from them."
The governor said there needs to be a change in public attitudes: "You've got to obey the rulings of the court. When people are called to court, they need to show up."
However, he said, the courts need to be responsible as well, "to operate fairly, transparently and ethically."
He urged the lawyers to help simplify the legal system for their clients.
"How many times has a client sat across the table from you, kind of knowing what they want but not knowing how to get there, because they're in the "legal system'?" Nixon asked. "That's our job - to figure the most efficient and effective path forward, for our clients, with both sides represented, that finds its way toward "justice.'"
Because some municipal courts have added fines and costs to what started out as a basis charge, the governor noted, "certain segments of our society are leading to, in essence, the loss of financial independence - (and) that's a big darn deal in that person's life and really important to all of us. To folks where $1,000 is the difference between eating or paying, or you're having to choose between whether you can make it to court or not, or whether you're going to work the night shift at the nursing home where you work - that's just as important as a big-time case somewhere else."
To help those people, the governor said, courts - especially municipal courts - need to become more flexible, to be more accessible to people's schedules.
He thanked the Missouri Supreme Court for changing one of its rules, requiring municipal court judges to take financial situations into consideration when ordering fines and penalties for law violations.
"Let's find a way that penalties are meted out, but they are not inappropriately disrupting the economic realities of modern life," he said.
Even as lawmakers are looking at some solutions, the governor told the Bar members, the system won't "work if it's not trusted, respected or fair. Restoring people's trust that our municipal courts can administer the rule of law fairly and equitably is essential.
"It's going to take a concerted, sustained effort by all of us - and we need to start today."