COMMITTEE
SUBSTITUTE FOR ORDINANCE NO. 200573
Directing the development of a
policy that would have as its objective the offering of pre-trial diversions to
Municipal Court defendants for at least twenty percent of non-violent ordinance
violations.
WHEREAS, pre-trial
diversion programs provide offenders the opportunity to avoid conviction by
taking part in a rehabilitative program specific to the citation received; and
WHEREAS,
municipal violation convictions can lead to disadvantages in housing, education
and employment; and
WHEREAS,
municipal violation convictions can burden indigent individuals with additional
legal financial obligations and an individual’s inability to pay for a
diversion program should not exclude them from participation in diversion
program; and
WHEREAS, the
City of Kansas City has an interest in ensuring the fair and impartial
application of justice, and justice is better served by diverting a percentage
of non-violent crimes from formal prosecution; and
WHEREAS, the
City Prosecutor already has discretion to offer diversion as an alternative to
conviction; and
WHEREAS, Kansas
City believes it is important to look for ways to reduce the municipal jail
population and offering 20 percent of non-violent citations diversion is a
positive move in that direction; NOW, THEREFORE,
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY OF
KANSAS CITY:
Section 1. (1) By
September 30, 2020, the City Attorney shall develop and implement a policy that
has as its objective the offering of pre-trial diversions to Municipal Court
defendants for at least twenty percent of non-violent ordinance violations.
(2) The policy shall
be subject to appropriations and take into consideration existing City
contracts that provide legal services to indigent defendants. Such policy
would not apply to violations involving any acts of violence, such as defined
by Rule 37 of the Missouri Supreme Court, Municipal Court operating rules, or
such as domestic violence, or to any diversions for traffic ordinance
violations diversions that would violate state and federal law.
(3) The policy shall have as an
objective that indigent defendants comprise at least fifty percent of those
defendants that are offered pre-trial diversion and that no indigent defendant
be excluded from a diversion program because of the inability to pay.
(4) The City Manager shall, within
thirty days of the effective date of this ordinance, produce an estimate of
funds that would have been spent for incarceration if diversion is not offered
to defendants, including in the estimate a consideration of any amounts of
state-mandated court costs not collected due to diversions of traffic ordinance
violations, and the amount of such funds shall be considered as part of later
appropriations to fund legal services for indigent defendants who are eligible
for diversion.
_____________________________________________
Approved
as to form and legality:
______________________________
Alan
Holtkamp
Assistant
City Attorney