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.

In 2019, the Seattle Police Department reported 25,993 thefts, 8,442 assaults, 6,430 property offenses, 4,194 frauds, 3,910 trespasses, and 1,640 narcotics violations — representing 72 percent of all reported crimes. If the ordinance passes, nearly all these crimes would be permitted under law.

The consequence of this measure is predictable. By dramatically reducing penalties for theft, assault, drug crime, and property crime, the city would effectively announce, "crime pays here." With at least 90 percent of the jail population able to claim dispensation for indigence, addiction, and mental illness, the city's criminal class could operate with impunity. Seattle's downtown, already besieged by tent encampments and an addiction-fueled crime boom, would become a free-for-all.
It's a shame that there are no laws requiring politicians and lawmakers to have an IQ of 100 or higher.