ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — A new report exclusively obtained by 5 On Your Side shows changes within the St. Louis County court systems and the calls to consolidate it.
For years, area municipal courts have been accused of putting people behind bars for traffic tickets and other minor infractions.
ArchCity Defenders released an over 30-page report, "Pay or Stay: Abolishing St. Louis's Debtors' Prisons," that outlines what's changed in the last decade throughout St. Louis County's Court Systems and the work that still needs to be done.
The legal advocacy group filed 52 lawsuits between 2014 to 2024 alleging unlawful practices in 20 municipalities spanning across eight counties.
Through these lawsuits, ArchCity Defenders collected more than $25 million dollars in damages for people across the region.
The new report reveals the impact the sweeping reforms made, specifically the decline in revenues, tickets and warrants. Below are just a few, of the dozens, where major progress was made from 2014 to 2023, according to the report.
- Ferguson:
- Municipal court revenue dropped by 95.2%.
- Tickets issued declined by 91.8%.
- Warrants issued decreased by 95.3%.
- St. Ann:
- Municipal court revenue dropped by 95.4%.
- Tickets issued declined by 85.2%.
- Warrants issued decreased by 99.5%.
- Berkeley:
- Municipal court revenue dropped by 89.3%.
- Tickets issued declined by 67.2%.
- Warrants issued decreased by 88.5%.
- City of St. Louis:
- Municipal court revenue dropped by 68.8%.
- Tickets issued declined by 80.1%.
- Warrants issued decreased by 55.9%.
All of these changes started in Ferguson following the death of Michael Brown in 2014. After the Justice Department investigated Brown's death, it accused the city of Ferguson of racially biased policing and using excessive fines and court fees, which led to sweeping court reforms.
Around that same time, ArchCity Defenders released a white paper, similar to the one released in 2024, which outlined abuse within the municipal courts, calling them "debtors' prisons."
The group claimed municipalities across St. Louis County were putting people in jail because they couldn't pay for things, like traffic tickets, and it wasn't just happening in Ferguson.
Since 2015, ArchCity Defenders filed seven federal class action "debtors' prisons" lawsuits against Jennings, Ferguson, St. Ann, Normandy, Edmundson, Maplewood and Florissant.
5 On Your Side sat down with ArchCity Defenders Executive Director Blake Strode ahead of the white paper release. He talked about their client's strength and heart-wrenching stories.
"We've had clients that have missed funerals of their parents. Clients who have had kids sent out of state because they were sitting in jail, clients who families had to scrape together all the money they could find just to get them out of jail. I mean, really harrowing experiences, and somehow, they found the strength, not only did they take that system on, but then to stick with it over the years," he said.
Strode said municipal courts continue to harm poor and predominantly Black people, but their clients continue to show courage.
"They've survived and been shamed by systems that have done so much damage to them and their families and their lives. They've been willing to fight back, and they've been willing to tell the truth, and they've been willing to share their stories and really vulnerable ways. I'm incredibly proud of of them and to be part of that work that they're doing," he said.
According to the report, ArchCity Defenders filed 75% of the cases between 2014 to 2019. The majority cited claims under 42 U.S. Code Section 1983. This federal statute gives people the "right to sue government employees who violate civil rights protected by the U.S. Constitution."
As of the July report released, four cases were dismissed, 14 remain pending and 34 have settled with monetary and/or injunctive relief.
Overall, according to the report, the federal courts ordered defendants to pay $26.7 million to thousands of people impacted by their local police, courts or jails.
While things have improved, there is still work that needs to be done, according to the report. ArchCity Defenders said revenues and tickets have consistently declined, but that hasn't always been the case for the number of warrants issued.
For example, according to the report, most municipalities' warrants spiked between 2021 to 2022. Florissant's jumped the most from eight warrants in 2021 to 35,204 in 2022, according to the report. St. Louis County's warrants went from 532 issued in 2022 to 18,249 in 2023, according to the report.
The white paper also revealed how Black motorists are still disproportionately stopped. For example, Black drivers in Missouri were pulled over 60% more frequently than white drivers in 2023.
The group compared the difference between Black and white drivers' frequency of getting pulled over in 2014 and 2022. According to their data, disparities have worsened in some cities, including Ferguson, Berkeley, Maryland Heights, St. Ann and Calverton Park.
Strode said while he is proud of the growth made, there is still work to be done.
"We have maintained the position for a number of years that the municipal court system, as it currently exists, is not for public safety. It doesn't serve a valid public safety purpose. It is not necessary from any sort of civic or democratic perspective. It really exists as a mechanism of control and in many ways as a mechanism of extracting people, of extracting wealth from communities, really, that can least afford it," he said.
Strode said that's why they are continuing to call for a consolidation of St. Louis' municipal courts.
"A civil court system as it exists today and the patchwork of rules and practices, there really is no need and no place for that if what we're concerned with is fairness and justice and equity. I think that has been true and has been clear for a long time. We have not been willing, we haven't been bold enough, as a region, to adopt that kind of transformation, but I think that's still what we need," he said.
You can hear more about what's changed and past experiences from ArchCity Defenders clients and attorneys here.