Judge Edward Spillane is the presiding judge of the College Station Municipal Court and president of the Texas Municipal Courts Association. Judge Spillane  has a commentary  in the Washington Post. It is a short, but powerful reminder to judges that we can do better.

In part, the commentary says: 

What to do with these cases? In Tate v. Short , a 1971 Supreme Court decision, the justices held that jail time is not a proper punishment for fine-only criminal cases, citing the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. But in many jurisdictions, municipal judges — whether they’re overworked, under pressure to generate revenue through fees, skeptical of defendants’ claims to poverty or simply ignorant of the law — are not following the rules. As a result, far too many indigent defendants are cited for contempt of court and land behind bars for inability to pay.

There is another way, and I’ve been experimenting with it in my own courtroom . . . All judges want to uphold the rule of law in the communities we serve, but too often we can get lost in the day-to-day business of running a court; we ignore the consequences of what we do. An arrest can cost a citizen his or her job, dignity and security. Alternative sentencing is a way to achieve what we should all want: an end to criminal behavior.