It’s Monday morning in the Municipal and Traffic Court of New Orleans — misdemeanor rush hour in a city that traffics more heavily than most in public drunkenness and disturbing the peace.
Fifty-two arrestees, outfitted in orange and maroon jumpsuits, await their first appearance before a judge. Most are black. All require a public defender. And more than half of them are here, their hands chained against their stomachs, because they missed a court date for a minor crime, triggering an arrest warrant.
