[BoulderCouncilHotline] FW: 4-2-19 Muni Court Quarterly Update

[Beck, Lynnette]

Dear Hotline followers,

At the request of council, I am forwarding this communication from Judge Cooke.



Best regards,
Lynnette


Lynnette Beck
City Clerk

[cid:image001.png at 01D3EC27.FA3C93B0]

303-441-4222
beckl at bouldercolorado.gov<mailto:beckl at bouldercolorado.gov>

1777 Broadway | Boulder, CO 80302
bouldercolorado.gov<http://www.bouldercolorado.gov/>




From: Cooke, Linda <CookeL02 at bouldercolorado.gov>
Sent: Monday, April 1, 2019 2:21 PM
Subject: 4-2-19 Muni Court Quarterly Update

Dear Mayor and Councilmembers,

Tomorrow evening at my quarterly update I will be talking about racial disparity in the criminal justice system, with a focus on the Boulder Municipal Court.  Since 15 minutes goes by quickly, this will be a very high-level discussion.

I am sending you a handout to accompany my presentation.  The first three items most of you have seen before - a letter I sent in October 2017 after the publication of a white paper by the ACLU documenting concerning practices by the state's municipal courts, using Alamosa's court as an example; the powerpoint slides from my December 2017 quarterly update which covered this topic; the handout I provided to accompany the December 2017 quarterly update with added detail; the Department of Justice's recommendations for the Ferguson municipal court; and the Boulder Municipal Court's practices as compared against the recommendations for Ferguson.

I want to emphasize that the DOJ recommendations came out of a context where the Ferguson municipal court engaged in practices that have never been a part of the Boulder Municipal Court culture, such as setting fines that were incredibly disproportionate to the income of impoverished defendants, relying on municipal court revenue as a substantial percentage of the city budget, and punishing the failure to pay civil fines with jail sentences.  Moreover, even in the context of the ACLU's examination of Colorado municipal courts, Boulder was identified as an example of a reform-minded court.

I look forward to seeing all of you tomorrow evening.

Linda P. Cooke
Presiding Judge, Boulder Municipal Court
[MuniCourt_lockup_COBLogo]
303-441-1843
Cookel02 at bouldercolorado.gov<mailto:Cookel02 at bouldercolorado.gov>
Boulder Municipal Court
1777 6th St.
Boulder CO 80302
Bouldercolorado.gov

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