A new report from a court reform advocacy group Wednesday said town and village justices in New York commonly ignore legal precedent and state law by issuing bench warrants and jail terms for defendants who are too poor to pay fines and fees.

The Fund for Modern Courts, a group founded decades ago to advocate for improvements to the state’s court system, said in the report that many of those justices don’t follow case law and statutes that require them to adjust such a penalty if the individual is unable to pay.

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