Several localities with the programs report they are a fiscal or managerial success--bringing in money and reducing backlogs. Jackson, Mississippi, took in $29,000 in 2004 from scofflaws; Kansas's Shawnee County Sheriff's Office cleared nearly 600 outstanding limited action bench warrants during a May 2005 amnesty day. "We have over 2,500 civil bench warrants, and this is just another way for us to try and get those numbers down," said Sergeant Martha Lutz, a spokeswoman for the Shawnee sheriff's office. "The piles and piles of paperwork for these warrants are just staggering."
Not all amnesty days produce the hoped-for results. In Morris City, Alabama, only two people showed up for their "free" day in court last year. The city had received a lot of calls, but most people couldn't believe they wouldn't be arrested if they came in.
For some unlucky citizens, taking a chance on amnesty day can lead to arrests for crimes that don't fall under the amnesty criteria. In Shawnee County, 61 people who gave themselves up because of the civil amnesty day were taken into custody on unrelated county or municipal bench warrant violations.
"I guess we'll see next year if that affects the turnout," Lutz says.
