State lawmakers order up study of largest part of criminal justice system: Misdemeanors

More than 60% of criminal filings in Nevada are for misdemeanor offenses, the Fines and Fees Justice Center told state lawmakers in June. 

Despite being the overwhelming majority of crimes processed in the legal system, there is scant data on what the most common misdemeanors are and how municipalities enforce them.

“It’s a giant system and the part of the system we understand the least in this state,” said Nick Shepack, Nevada deputy director for the Fines and Fees Justice Center. 

Shepack said criminal filings from 2021 showed the state had 72,488 misdemeanors, 6,087 gross misdemeanors, and 37,709 felonies.

The group worked with the Nevada Sentencing Commission to propose Senate Bill 103, which authorized the commission to study misdemeanor crimes and sentencing practices.

The study will collect data to determine “what are the most common misdemeanors individuals are charged with, how they are adjudicated and which misdemeanors are law enforcement most often enforcing,” said Leisa Moseley-Sayles, Nevada director for the Fines and Fees Justice Center

SB 103, which was supported by public defenders and district attorneys, passed both houses unanimously and is waiting for Gov. Joe Lombardo’s signature. 

The legislation builds on efforts by criminal justice advocates, legal groups and lawmakers in recent sessions to reduce criminal penalties associated with low-level offenses that burden people of color and low income communities. 

In the 2021 legislative session, lawmakers converted certain minor traffic citations, like driving with an expired registration, from a criminal matter to a civil infraction.

Moseley-Sayles said misdemeanors make up 80% of criminal cases nationally, with about 13 million charged each year, according to the 2018 book “Punishment Without Crime” by legal scholar Alexandra Natapoff. 

Nevada data indicates it is 62% of criminal cases. 

Some of these offenses, Moseley-Sayles added, range from driving without a seatbelt to misuse of a park bench, a violation that can land those experiencing homelessness in jail. 

“One of the most harmful misconceptions about misdemeanors is that they … have little or no impact on people who are charged with them,” she said. 

Enforcement of these offenses, she said, can “clog jails and courts and create crushing caseloads for prosecutors, public defenders and judges” while also creating prolonged consequences for the people who are arrested “that can cause harm to individuals for years long after they’ve been convicted.“

“Through this process, people can lose their jobs, their children, their housing, their health, their finances and their freedom,” she said.  

Following the 2021 session, Shepack said the group attempted to collect data from courts and jails to better understand misdemeanor crimes in Nevada.

The group quickly discovered that oftentimes data was incomplete or only available in raw form that would be indecipherable without an analyst who could aggregate thousands of rows of data.

The Nevada Sentencing Commission, which was established by lawmakers in 2019, already studies felonies and compiles policy recommendations for lawmakers. Its duties are dictated by Nevada statute. 

The legislation would authorize the group to create a subcommittee of the commission to specifically look into misdemeanors. 

“I think because misdemeanors are so large and cover so many jurisdictions and if we truly want to have sustainable data and reliable analysis, we need to have something like a subcommittee,” said Victoria Gonzalez, the executive director of the Nevada Sentencing Policy.

The group would have to prepare a biannual report for lawmakers. 

Shepack said  the information gathered would empower lawmakers with “to make data driven decisions on crimes and punishment that impacts the most Nevadans.”

It could also help the state get rid of duplicative offenses or misdemeanors that no longer make sense. 

“For example, there is a misdemeanor to own a machine that scans the bones in your feet if you sell shoes,” Shepack said. “There are many things like that that could be simply removed so that everybody understands it.”

On top of the study, the legislation also expands the membership of the Nevada Sentencing Commission to ensure rural district attorneys, public defenders and defense attorneys are also part of the commission.