An infraction is a criminal offense, but that it’s quite different from misdemeanors and felonies. It will explain some of the heirachy involved. The fact that you cannot contest, etc.
From the California Penal Code:
“An infraction is not punishable by imprisonment. A person charged with an infraction shall not be entitled to a jury trial. A person charged with an infraction shall not be entitled to have the public defender or other counsel appointed at public expense to represent him…”(19c. CA Penal Code)
In California, most routine traffic violations for which a defendant may attend traffic school are infractions. Citations for speeding, failure to stop, running a red light, lane violations at intersections, following too closely, and failure to obey a sign are examples of common infraction tickets. Infractions are the least serious “crime” one can be charged with in the state of California; a person can not be sentenced any imprisonment for an infraction. However, defendants accused of an infraction violation are denied the basic rights to a jury trial and a free legal defense that all accused of misdemeanor and felony crimes (murder, armed robbery, assault, etc.) are automatically entitled to. As a result, many justly accused of serious crimes will often go free, while most unjustly accused of a traffic violations will be convicted.
The lack of information to infraction defendants about the legal rights they do still possess, coupled with police-friendly courts with an eye toward fine revenue, make most defendants forfeit bail and give up before even trying to contest their citation. Ultimately, the resentment of uninformed defendants who feel helpless against a court system that seems stacked against them erodes the respect of citizens for the judiciary, a judiciary established by our nation’s founders to protect the individual against possible excesses of the executive and legislative branches, not to rubber-stamp those excesses.
I believe that the erosion of public respect and support of the judiciary caused by honest citizen’s belief, based on negative experiences, that our court system is fundamentally unfair is poisonous to our democracy. The loss of free legal advice to those in need and the loss of a jury trial by our peers has given birth to our current traffic court system, a rude cash-hungry machine that intimidates confused defendants into guilty pleas, drains their wallets of available cash (most courts now accept credit card payments too) and destroys the respect of the people for its courts and government. The only purpose of a court system in our democracy should be to render justice. The purpose of this information guide is to help the average Californian understand their basic rights in respect to our current traffic court system and to encourage them to seek justice when they have been wrongly accused.
Submitting a Trial by Written Declaration
CVC 40902(a)”The court, pursuant to this section, shall, by rule, provide that the defendant may elect to have a trial by written declaration upon any alleged infraction….” To contest a violation, most courts will ask a defendant to spend 2-4 hours of a working day simply to plead not guilty and then spend another 2-4 hours of a working day at court for trial. With an average traffic ticket bail of $77-$136, most defendants do the math and realize that two court appearances will cost them more in wages then the fine.