The New Untouchables
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http://www.jewishworldreview.com/1220/rufo120420.php3
In October, the Seattle City Council floated legislation to provide an exemption from prosecution for misdemeanor crimes for any citizen who suffers from poverty, homelessness, addiction, or mental illness.
Under the proposed ordinance, courts would have to dismiss all so-called "crimes of poverty" — which, according to the city's former public-safety advisor, would cover more than 90 percent of all misdemeanor cases citywide. In effect, the legislation would create a new class of "untouchables," protected from consequences by the city's powerbrokers.
This is the latest and most brazen effort in the city's campaign to establish what might be called a "reverse hierarchy of oppression." The underlying theory is that society has condemned the lower class to a life of poverty and stigma, which leads to addiction, madness, and indigence.
The poor, in the logic of Seattle's progressive elites, are thus forced to commit crimes — including violent crimes — to secure their very existence. Therefore, as society is the perpetrator of this inequality, the crimes of the poor must be forgiven. The crimes are transformed into an expression of social justice.
On a practical level, if this ordinance becomes law, it will effectively legalize an entire spectrum of misdemeanor crimes, including theft, assault, harassment, drug possession, property destruction, and indecent exposure. Criminals must simply establish that they have an addiction, mental-health disorder, or low income in order to evade justice. The impact of this measure would be enormous.
Fortunately, a local watchdog organization flagged the proposal and raised an alarm in the media. After negative coverage on television and on the op-ed page of the Seattle Times, (Councilwoman) Herbold (who proposed the legislation) relented, agreeing to drop the proposal from the budget process and resubmit it through the Public Safety Committee later this year.
Though the legislation has been wounded, it is not dead.
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Goofy idea. I think it is more important to solve the reasons why people are in those conditions, then rewarding them for being in that condition
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Goofy idea. I think it is more important to solve the reasons why people are in those conditions, then rewarding them for being in that condition
@taiwan_girl said in The New Untouchables:
Goofy idea. I think it is more important to solve the reasons why people are in those conditions, then rewarding them for being in that condition
Odd... That's exactly what republicans have been saying about the poor in America for the last 50 years. But here we are, still rewarding people for being poor because it gets them to vote democrat while everyone blames the nearest Republican for the deficit...
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What they envision is the starving person who eats an apple from the display won’t get prosecuted.
What they’ll get a class of people who brazenly steal and sell the goods on the street.
In other words they think the incentive effects of anti-theft laws will remain in place even after the law is repealed for this set of people.
Businesses in any area that passed such a law would close quite quickly, I think.
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@Mik said in The New Untouchables:
It’s a first step toward eliminating private property.
Hey! That’s my Tin Foil Hat Conspiracy! Get your own!
Though I don’t think it’s the first step, I think it’s the 17th...
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@George-K said in The New Untouchables:
... a local watchdog organization flagged the proposal and raised an alarm in the media. After negative coverage on television and on the op-ed page of the Seattle Times, (Councilwoman) Herbold (who proposed the legislation) relented, agreeing to drop the proposal from the budget process and resubmit it through the Public Safety Committee later this year.
Who is that “local watchdog organization”?
They need to be more prominently recognized and commended. -
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/1220/rufo120420.php3
In October, the Seattle City Council floated legislation to provide an exemption from prosecution for misdemeanor crimes for any citizen who suffers from poverty, homelessness, addiction, or mental illness.
Under the proposed ordinance, courts would have to dismiss all so-called "crimes of poverty" — which, according to the city's former public-safety advisor, would cover more than 90 percent of all misdemeanor cases citywide. In effect, the legislation would create a new class of "untouchables," protected from consequences by the city's powerbrokers.
This is the latest and most brazen effort in the city's campaign to establish what might be called a "reverse hierarchy of oppression." The underlying theory is that society has condemned the lower class to a life of poverty and stigma, which leads to addiction, madness, and indigence.
The poor, in the logic of Seattle's progressive elites, are thus forced to commit crimes — including violent crimes — to secure their very existence. Therefore, as society is the perpetrator of this inequality, the crimes of the poor must be forgiven. The crimes are transformed into an expression of social justice.
On a practical level, if this ordinance becomes law, it will effectively legalize an entire spectrum of misdemeanor crimes, including theft, assault, harassment, drug possession, property destruction, and indecent exposure. Criminals must simply establish that they have an addiction, mental-health disorder, or low income in order to evade justice. The impact of this measure would be enormous.
Fortunately, a local watchdog organization flagged the proposal and raised an alarm in the media. After negative coverage on television and on the op-ed page of the Seattle Times, (Councilwoman) Herbold (who proposed the legislation) relented, agreeing to drop the proposal from the budget process and resubmit it through the Public Safety Committee later this year.
Though the legislation has been wounded, it is not dead.
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She proposed it in the budget process??? That's completely inappropriate and seems deceptive. Was she trying to slip that by the media?
Or it could mean she's just stoopid. The staff should have told her it was inappropriate.It will be interesting to see how far it gets in the proper process, and it will likely get more media converage because it's the second round.
