The Seattle City Council is considering legislation that would allow people to use substance addiction, poverty, or mental illness as a legal defense if charged with a low-level misdemeanor in the city.
“I’m not aware of any legislation like this anywhere in the United States (or) even globally,” Scott Lindsay, the former public safety adviser for the city, said Monday. “All cities have criminal codes to protect their citizens from criminal acts. This would essentially create a legal loophole that swallows all those codes and creates a green light for crime.”
“If you don’t feel very protected right now, this would wipe out almost all remaining protections that we have,” Lindsay added.
Seattle City Councilwoman Lisa Herbold introduced the legislation last week, which would dismiss most misdemeanor crimes if the person shows: “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,” local outlet KOMO News reported.
The legislation would not cover charges of driving while under the influence or domestic violence.
Herbold said of the legislation, “The intent of the proposal is to provide a defense.”
“The notion that suddenly all of these cases are going to be dismissed — it’s not an analysis that makes any sense to me,” said King County Public Defender Anita Khandelwal.
Lindsay added that the legislation is a “blank check” for people committing theft or harassment “without disruption.”
“This would absolutely open the floodgates for crime in Seattle, even worse than what we often currently struggle with,” Lindsay said. “It’s basically a blank check for anybody committing theft, assault, harassment (and) trespass to continue without disruption from our criminal justice system.”
The proposal comes as Seattle marked 150 days of riots or protests against perceived police brutality.
