"Seattle considers excusing misdemeanors, including assault, for homeless, drug addicts"

"Seattle's City Council is mulling a new criminal code regulation that would make it the first municipality in the nation to excuse misdemeanor crimes if they can be linked to poverty, addiction or mental disorders. The proposal excludes misdemeanors related to domestic violence and impaired driving. Proponents like Anita Khandelwal, the top public defender for King County, which includes Seattle, say the current system isn't working for both offenders and victims. 'It’s meeting nobody’s needs,' she argued, according to KUOW. '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.' Khandelwal also suggested the creation of a public fund for restitution, to compensate theft victims even if the offender cannot pay them. However, opponents argue codifying the policy would open the proverbial floodgates. 'It sends this powerful signal that as city government, we don’t really care about this type of criminal behavior in our city,' former Seattle City Councilmember Tim Burgess told reporters. Crime has been up in the Pacific Northwest metropolis since this summer's Capitol Hill Occupied Zone protests, which saw a 525% spike, according to Democratic Mayor Jenny Durkan."