Seattle the city that brought you CHAZ is readying for ‘Poverty Defense.’ You should care because it is probably coming to a city near you. Cambridge is prosecuting little itself right now. So they won’t be far behind. Here’s what is going on.
The Seattle City Council is considering changing its criminal code. The proposal is: criminals who commit trespassing, theft, or simple assault could be exempt from prosecution. They would have to prove their survival depends on their criminal acts.
Council member Lisa Herbold first brought the idea of the “poverty defense” in October. Anita Khandelwal, the King County’s director of the Department of Public Defense is now joining her. Together they are introducing the idea of changing the criminal code.
The supporters ‘quotes
Herbold KOMO TV reported in October: “If approved, the ordinance would excuse and dismiss — essentially legalizing — almost all misdemeanor crimes committed in Seattle by offenders who could show either: Symptoms of addiction without being required to provide a medical diagnosis; Symptoms of a mental disorder; or Poverty and the crime was committed to meet an “immediate and basic need.” For example, if a defendant argued they stole merchandise to sell for cash in order to purchase food, clothes or was trying to scrape together enough money for rent. The accused could not be convicted.
KIRO 7 TV notes, “The advocates’ proposal covers all misdemeanor crimes, except DUIs and domestic violence cases…”
Khandelwal states, “In a situation where you took that sandwich because you were hungry and you were trying to meet your basic need of satisfying your hunger; we as the community will know that we should not punish that. That conduct is excused,” according to KOMO TV.
Quotes from the skeptics
Former Seattle City Councilmember Tim Burgess slammed the idea. , saying it issued a “powerful signal” that the Seattle city government doesn’t “really care about this type of criminal behavior in our city… It leans on the scales heavily in favor of certain individuals based on status, and it says to others, ‘you don’t matter.’”
Scott Lindsay, a former mayoral Public Safety Advisor, echoed, “It’s a green light for crime. If you are engaged in 100 different misdemeanors that are in our criminal justice system code, you are not going to be held liable. You are not going to be held accountable.”
Khandelwal said the current system is “meeting nobody’s needs … This is not that we don’t care about the business community or about people who have experienced harm. It is that we know that this process – this processing of human beings through the system – is harmful to our clients and again very racially disproportionate, and also not getting business owners what they need either,” as KUOW reported.
KTTH Radio Host Jason Rantz told Fox News, “We have this culture of lawlessness. We have a prolific offender problem where pretty much the same 100 or so individuals keep breaking the law, not seeing any punishment, and then doing the same thing over and over and over again … so, all you’re doing is making it easier for those people to continue that behavior. And, the fear is, of course, you know, ‘Does this only apply to Seattle residents?’ And, if not, does that mean someone can come from outside of the region who is destitute, who is low income, [and] break a whole bunch of laws knowing that if you do it in Seattle, you’re not going to get in any trouble?”
Conclusion
What do you think? I’m kind of hoping Cambridge will step up. Maybe those having a need for such protections will gravitate there. That would seem to be a motivation to leave New Hampshire. Want a sandwich? Just take it. Want some spending money? Just take it. This is a great idea, no? What could go wrong? What could go wrong? Seattle the city that brought you CHAZ is getting ready to show us how its done once again…