A federal judge will spare the city from being found in contempt of court even though it long ignored a court order to stop enforcing an anti-panhandling law. In 1993, a federal appellate court found the state statute against panhandling to be unconstitutional. Nonetheless, in the last four years, the city has used the defunct law to issue summonses more than 1,500 times and arrest and prosecute more than 50 people.

In a decision yesterday, a judge, Shira Scheindlin of U.S. District Court in Manhattan, criticized the city for past non-compliance, but found the city is “now striving to fully comply ” and has “made avoiding contempt a top priority.”