U.S. City May Pass "Duress Legislation" to Give Crimanials "Poverty Defense"

[IceWizard]

DECEMBER 16, 2020
JUDICIAL WATCH






Elected officials in a major U.S. city plan to pass a law that will allow thieves
to sell items they steal if they do it to earn money for basic needs and
trespassers to set up camp on private property when it is to obtain
adequate shelter. Dozens of other crimes—including assault and harassment—will
be excused under the preposterous measure if suspects are poor, mentally ill
or addicted to drugs. It is being crafted as a poverty defense and will
allow municipal court judges to dismiss a multitude of crimes if poverty,
mental illness or a substance-abuse disorder drove the perpetrator to
commit them.

Even for a famously liberal left coast city like Seattle it seems like a bit much.
The proposal was first introduced during the Seattle City Council’s budget
deliberations weeks ago, according to a local news report. It was put on
hold over a budget process bureaucracy but has gained incredible steam
and appears to have enough support to alter the city code early next year.
“The idea could enormously impact the city — and set Seattle apart from
the rest of the country in its approach to misdemeanor crimes,” according
to the news story, which includes the concerns of frustrated public safety
advocates who say the law will essentially legalize most crimes in Seattle.
Not surprisingly, the idea came from a “wave of activism and historic protests
after the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota,” the Seattle newspaper
story says. That motivated public defenders and community organizers to
take advantage of the attention to police and court reforms to fix a
“long-held frustration.”


The force behind the push for the new law is a leftist organization called
Decriminalize Seattle that opposes policing and the criminal legal system.
The group has called for defunding the Seattle Police Department by at
least 50% and reallocating the funds to “community led health and safety
systems.” It also demands the release of protestors arrested during recent
violent uprising without charges. An organizer with Decriminalize Seattle,
identified as one of the law’s catalysts in the media, says “what we’ve
already known is that the misdemeanor system is basically a system of
cycling people in poverty through municipal court over and over again
without meeting their basic needs.” In late October Seattle City Councilwoman
Lisa Herbold, who ironically chairs the public safety committee, introduced
the measure to exempt low-level criminals. The lawmaker, who represents
West Seattle and South Park, writes in her official city blog that it is important
to make meeting an individual’s immediate basic need an affirmative defense
to a crime.

The councilwoman includes a staff memo outlining the proposal, which is
identified as “duress legislation” that will codify a defense against prosecution
of crimes committed due to poverty or behavioral health issues.
“The criminal legal system is ill-suited to address the root cause of ‘crimes of poverty’
and any involvement in the criminal legal system and incarceration causes harm,”
the memo states. “As such, Central Staff understands that the intent of the
proposal is to provide an exit from the system at trial and without further
involvement in the system for those crimes committed because a person cannot
otherwise afford to meet their immediate basic needs.” The lengthy document
proceeds to reveal that the City Attorney already exercises his discretion to
move away from prosecuting property crimes that appear to be committed
out of “survival necessity.” The concern, however, is that future prosecutors
may not continue the practice and a law must be enacted to assure individuals
committing crimes to “fulfill their basic needs” have a way to “exit out of the
criminal legal system.”

The proposed law comes as Seattle experiences a big spike in crime—including
the highest homicide rate in over a decade—and police funding gets drastically
cut to appease Black Lives Matter (BLM) protestors. This is not a new problem
for the Emerald City. In the summer of 2019, a business publication wrote a
troubling piece on the negative impact of rising crime in downtown Seattle.
“The increasing prevalence of crime, drugs and homelessness in the downtown
core threatens the city’s thriving tourism and convention business, and
worries retailers concerned that the city isn’t doing nearly enough to combat
the crisis,” the story says.

“Downtown crime is increasing at an alarming rate:
City of Seattle crime data for downtown Seattle indicate a jump in “person crimes”
(aggravated assault, robbery, rape and homicide) of 43 percent between 2016 and 2018.
In the downtown commercial district, there was a total of 568 person crimes in 2018,
up from 397 in 2016, Seattle Police Department records show.”

That was more than a year ago.

[Charon]

Insanity. Rampant Insanity. So, as I fit the guidelines for poverty now, and these numbnutz take me old car and sell it, can i sue this county or state for replacement costs?

Where is the protection for those of us whom now find ourselves facing poverty? They can take what little we have, sell it, camp out on the lawn till i get evicted for their actions, but all will be okie dokie cuz they are poor?

Mama, we all poor now.