SIOUX CITY , Iowa (AP) - Tossing trash on the ground or spitting on the sidewalk will no longer carry the possibility of jail time in Sioux City.
The Sioux City Journal reports the City Council recently scaled back the number of violations that specify imprisonment as an optional penalty.
Although seldom used, jail time has been an option for years for several city code violations. Littering and spitting on a sidewalk carried up to 30 days in jail.
Fines for those offenses - ranging from $65 to more than $600 - remain in effect.
City attorney Nicole DuBois said the change was spurred by a change in state law that goes into effect next year. The change requires cities to reimburse defense costs in cases where some defendants are prosecuted for misdemeanor city ordinance violations that carry jail time as a sentencing option.
With that change in mind, the city conducted a review of its city laws and eliminated the jail time penalty from several actions,
Jail time is “virtually never considered as an option for punishment” for the violations where the penalty has been eliminated, according to City Council agenda documents.
The council kept possible jail sentences for those violations recommended by the police department, DuBois said. Those include disorderly conduct, assault and criminal mischief.
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Information from: Sioux City Journal, http://www.siouxcityjournal.com
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