LA should conduct study to increase JP relevancy

A little-known new law might serve as the start of the answer to making a superfluous, anachronistic office more relevant in the 21^st century.

Starting last month, courtesy of Act 950 passed this year, East Baton Rouge Justice of the Peace Districts were extended into Baton Rouge. That means they overlap with the Baton Rouge City Court, but only concurrently on one piece of jurisdiction: evictions where rent is fewer than $5,000 monthly.

Area legislators successfully advocated for the measure in order to reduce the backlog of eviction cases piling up in City Court. Ordinarily, within their jurisdictions as well as with evictions JPs deal with bail for minor cases (with an amount in controversy fewer than $5,000 or not with hard labor as a potential penalty), litter abatement, movable property abandonment with parish approval, and in a few parishes immovable property standards and nuisance cases.

Decades ago, with the state’s much more rural nature and people’s less mobility to travel to courthouses, JPs made more sense. But today and particularly in urban parishes, they are superfluous; many and their officers of the court, constables, do little according to their filed financial statements. Most parishes have at least one city with a city court (and a few a similar parish court) that is an aggrandized version of a JP with much more jurisdiction within city boundaries, and an aggrandized constable called a marshal who also has much more extensive duties that overlap with local law enforcement.

The system’s potential for idleness also lends itself to abuse. In Caddo Parish, one constable tried to build his own law enforcement unit, while in Jefferson Parish a JP and his constable worked together to defraud taxpayers.

However, the model in East Baton Rouge holds out promise as a way to make the JP system more useful and relieve congestion at the city or even district court levels. Where identifiable backlogs exist, JP jurisdiction could be expanded.

Yet rather than in a piecemeal fashion, an organized effort should be put forth. Last year, the Legislature requested a performance audit of JPs that earlier this year demonstrated their largely dormant nature. The Legislative Auditor also noted in an earlier report that some marshals raked in big bucks (one, Baker’s who also served as police chief of the city with around 12,000 residents, recently drew in nearly $500,000 annually which would make him the highest paid elected or appointed official in the state).

This information can be used, along with annual reports made by city and parish courts, to determine where overloads exist, and further analysis conducted as to whether jurisdiction in other minor matters might extend. As JPs can handle evictions at present (there are professional education requirements that must be met to serve as a JP, even as a law license isn’t required), that could be a good area of extension, but new areas of jurisdiction might be added which also would require changes for more training.

 At the very least the Legislature should set up study of this possibility, with the potential for legislation to follow should the idea merit pursuit. State and local governments chip in to JP and constable operations (although these largely operate in self-funded fashion when they choose to do so), so this would help taxpayers get more bang for their bucks.