http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/S-F-judge-explains-why-66-000-arrest-warrants-10645460.php
nov 30, 2016 San Francisco’s chief judge says he and his colleagues discarded 66,000 arrest warrants issued over five years for quality-of-life crimes, like sleeping on the sidewalk, because it made no sense to lock people up for fines they couldn’t afford.
The crimes, which also include urinating on sidewalks and being drunk in public, are infractions punishable only by fines. But when those who were cited failed to show up in court, judges in the past have issued bench warrants ordering them to appear, with a sentence of five days in jail for failing to show up.
But San Francisco Superior Court judges stopped issuing the warrants a year ago and recently disposed of about 66,000 bench warrants issued since January 2011. The city’s police union and some members of the public have protested, but Presiding Judge John Stewart defended the court’s action Tuesday in a meeting with The Chronicle’s editorial board.
Stewart noted state lawmakers’ similar response after learning that 4 million Californians had seen their driver’s licenses suspended for failing to pay traffic fines, increased substantially by fees imposed by cash-strapped local courts. Gov. Jerry Brown signed an amnesty law last year for unpaid tickets issued before 2013, cutting penalties by 50 percent, or 80 percent for low-income drivers. The law also allowed drivers to regain their licenses if they signed up for the repayment program
