Municipal Courts
Cities outside St. Louis have created "a modern day police state and debtors’ prison scheme that has no place in American society today."
People are outraged after an attorney was handcuffed and hauled out of court in the middle of a hearing.
The most Cleveland thing we've ever heard.
The city needs tax hikes to live up to the DOJ agreement, he says.
WHAT'S HAPPENING
Excessive fines drove tensions in Ferguson and nearby towns.
Civil rights lawyers want the DOJ to give judges who break the law a taste of their own medicine.
The idea could also prevent minor cases from clogging up the court calendar.
A predatory court system knocked Qiana Williams' life into decades of disarray.
The mayors are suing over a new law that restricts how much towns can make from court fines and traffic tickets.
After Ferguson protests, lawsuits and public pressure are bringing change to a fractured and troubled network of tiny courts.