A recent series of missteps by municipal court judges has prompted New Jersey Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner to remind the judiciary about the due process and equal protection rights of defendants.

Rabner mentioned disapprovingly a municipal judge’s jailing of a defendant who was unable to pay a $239 fine for littering and a former municipal judge who pleaded guilty to falsifying records in order to increase the amount of revenue collected by the municipalities where he worked. The chief justice also spoke of a soon-to-be-issued report to the Supreme Court suggesting an overhaul of policies and laws pertaining to municipal court.