ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Council members could soon dig into the Allentown City Code to remove the threat of jail time for some minor violations.
Imprisonment appears almost 100 times in the city’s code as the harshest punishment for violating ordinances, City Councilwoman Ce-Ce Gerlach said.
She and Councilman Ed Zucal are sponsoring a bill that would eliminate about 10% of those references from the books.
As the code is currently written, people could spend up to 90 days in jail for violating ordinances regulating domestic bees, shade trees, weeds, trailer parks and other “noncriminal” offenses, Gerlach told LehighValleyNews.com.
“They’re not really crimes,” she said, noting the bill is focused on city-level offenses and avoids those where state and federal authorities would have an interest.
Gerlach said she doesn’t know of anyone who has ever spent time in jail over these offenses, but “I just know that it shouldn't be on there as an option.”
“I think what we forget about when we talk about imprisonment is how life-changing that is, even if your charges are dismissed, even if you're just sitting in jail, waiting for the court date or whatever. It is life-altering.”Ce-Ce Gerlach, Allentown City Council
People shouldn’t “lose their job, lose their kids, lose their home and sit in jail for up to 90 days” over offenses the councilwoman referred to as “civil matters.”
“I think what we forget about when we talk about imprisonment is how life-changing that is, even if your charges are dismissed, even if you're just sitting in jail, waiting for the court date or whatever,” Gerlach said. “It is life-altering.”
Jail time ‘inconsistent with a just city’: Mayor
This is the second time in about a year that Allentown City Council is considering a measure to erase references to prison from the city’s code.
"I think incarceration as a punishment for minor infractions is inconsistent with a just city."Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk
Council last April removed the threat of imprisonment from Allentown’s parking ordinances. The city code listed imprisonment as a potential consequence for 11 different violations, though only if tickets were not paid.
It took about a year for council to agree to that change, Gerlach said, adding she’s not sure her new bill will quickly pass.
But Mayor Matt Tuerk told LehighValleyNews.com he’s “very supportive” of the bill.
“I am happy to see Councilperson Gerlach take up this effort,” he said. “As I shared with her last year, I think incarceration as a punishment for minor infractions is inconsistent with a just city.”
