Missouri courts have a new "Commission on Racial and Ethnic Fairness" to help make sure the courts are providing fair and impartial justice to all, Supreme Court Chief Justice Patricia Breckenridge told the Missouri Bar on Thursday.
Supreme Court Judge George Draper and outgoing Missouri Bar President Reuben Shelton "have been instrumental and inspirational in forming the commission and will serve as liaisons," she said during her address to the Bar's annual meeting in St. Louis. "The commission is made up of attorneys and judges representing diverse experiences and viewpoints from across the state."
While most Missouri lawyers, judges and courts already show respect for the people who deal with them, Breckenridge said, two U.S. Justice Department reports are a reminder everyone needs to do better.
"The Department of Justice in its juvenile report (on St. Louis County) raised issues including racial disparity in the disposition of cases, insufficient legal representation for juvenile offenders, and questions about our juvenile court structure," she noted. "While some of these issues may be pervasive throughout the country, this does not diminish them.
"So we are carefully studying the report to determine what changes are appropriate."
In her prepared remarks, Breckenridge added, "Many talented judges, lawyers and community leaders are also exploring issues raised in the (U.S.) Department of Justice report about Ferguson.
"The municipal (court) divisions in the St. Louis area were thrust into the national spotlight after Michael Brown's death in Ferguson last year, resulting in (the DOJ) report. It included 20 pages criticizing the Ferguson municipal division.
"If you have not read the report, you should - it is disturbing."
Breckenridge noted the federal report "identified (many) problems with the (Ferguson) court's fundamental procedures and operations - like imposing unwritten rules, or rules made up on an ad hoc basis. The department (also) criticized the Ferguson court's practice of mandating appearances for more than 200 offenses - even minor ordinance violations like defective equipment and "failure to dispose of leaf debris.'"
Also, the chief justice noted, like its report on the St. Louis County Juvenile system, the Justice Department's Ferguson report "identified race-based disparities in the treatment of defendants, noting these disparities "are not isolated or aberrational; rather, they exist in nearly every aspect of Ferguson ... operations.'
"Let me be clear: That conduct is not acceptable in our Missouri courts. We will do all that we can to ensure that it does not continue."
Breckenridge said Missouri's legal community and government leaders should "recognize that the issues raised by the Department of Justice may not be confined to Ferguson."
However, she added, "I believe the vast majority of Missouri's municipal divisions work well - day in and day out, they follow the rules correctly and dispense justice fairly.
"Nevertheless, the Supreme Court is committed to restoring trust in all our municipal divisions, and we have taken steps to help regain the public's confidence."
Part of the problem, she said, was the result of the 1979 constitutional changes to Missouri court operations, where municipal courts "became divisions of the circuit court but were not fully brought into the state system, (leaving) the selection of judges to the municipalities" and, in many ways, allowing the municipal courts to function "autonomously from the circuit courts."
Both the Supreme Court's "work group" on municipal courts and a separate "Improvement Committee" in St. Louis County are making progress for reform.
"We all need to do everything we can to ensure that every individual in every case in our system of justice is treated with respect and has his or her case adjudicated fairly and impartially according to the law," Breckenridge said. "Until that is true in 100 percent of our courts, we cannot rest.
"Even a perception of justice denied anywhere should concern us all, no matter who or where we are."