Warwick Municipal Court (H 7777, S 2149)

We shared our support for a piece of legislation’s removal of language from the current enabling statute that allows the Warwick Municipal Court to impose a prison sentence of up to thirty days in jail. Over many years the General Assembly enacted enabling statutes allowing Warwick and other municipalities to impose prison sentences of up to thirty days for violations of local ordinances. However, in the past decade, the ACLU and other organizations have encouraged cities and towns to revise the penalty provisions in their ordinances to eliminate the prospect of imprisonment as a potential punishment for violations of these minor offenses. The problem was not just that this penalty fell overwhelmingly on indigent defendants; it was also common practice in some municipalities to (unlawfully) sentence individuals to periods of incarceration without first providing legal counsel.
With this amendment, Warwick will join many other municipalities that have recognized the inappropriateness – and illegality absent a structure in place to provide counsel – of sentencing individuals to prison for petty violations of local ordinances.