Kenney wants to soften penalty for some nuisance crimes
Mayor Kenney has proposed softening the city's stance on several so-called nuisance crimes, including, ahead of July's Democratic National Convention here, those commonly slapped on protesters.
Mayor Kenney has proposed softening the city's stance on several so-called nuisance crimes, including, ahead of July's Democratic National Convention here, those commonly slapped on protesters.
The shift, a sequel to Kenney's successful effort to decriminalize marijuana possession, would make violations that currently land on an offender's criminal record punishable by a $100 fine.
His administration said the shift, introduced in legislation to City Council on Thursday, would keep 10,000 cases each year out of the criminal justice system while helping protect the city from lawsuits in the aftermath of the convention.
"The goal is not to interfere with people's rights to protest, but we do need to manage the incidents," Police Capt. Francis Healy said. "This is a happy medium between both worlds."
The legislation would add violations that exist only in the state's criminal code to the city's civil code, allowing the police to use a civil violation where a criminal charge now is their only option. The crimes include disorderly conduct, public drunkenness, blocking a highway or public passage, and failure to disperse.
While the first major test of the new system, should it be approved by Council, would be during the convention, Healy said that was not what sparked the legislation. He said he suggested the change after seeing an inequality emerge after the city decriminalized small-amount marijuana possession in 2014.
"Quite frankly, we are unintentionally holding people more accountable for a lower-level offense than marijuana," Healy said.
Similar decriminalization efforts have cropped up elsewhere. In March, police in Manhattan stopped making arrests and started issuing civil summonses for low-level offenses including littering, public consumption of alcohol, and taking up two seats on the subway.
The push in Philadelphia dovetails with the city's plan to reduce its prison population by a third over three years with a $3.5 million MacArthur grant. Today, offenders charged with one of these low-level offenses who do not show up for a hearing have a bench warrant issued. If they fail to pay the $100 fine, they are given a civil judgment, a strictly financial penalty.
"It's about moving things that are not violent and dangerous away from the criminal justice system," said Julie Wertheimer, director of the city's MacArthur grant project.
Kenney, who proposed decriminalizing marijuana possession as a member of Council, has stressed that even minor criminal charges can have long-term repercussions. On Friday, he reiterated that concern and said his goal is to "keep as many people out of the criminal justice system as possible."
"These civil citations are a much better way to go for this kind of activity," he said. "Disorderly conduct is something that is disorderly. However, I don't think it rises to the level of criminality."
Healy said disorderly conduct is often used as a "catchall" charge by police for behavior that causes public inconvenience or alarm, but doesn't fit under a more clearly defined statute, such as public urination or loitering. Those are already civil violations under city law. Public drunkenness is not a civil violation, but would become one under Kenney's plan.
As for the laws that could impact protesters at the convention, Healy pointed to the 2000 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, when police made about 400 arrests, most of which resulted in acquittals and several of which spawned lawsuits against the city.
This time around, he said, the police could issue civil fines instead of making arrests.
"That was one of my concerns for the DNC," Healy said. "This is a viable alternative."
215-854-2730
@TriciaNadolny
Staff writer Julia Terruso contributed to this article.