In another move of utter insanity, because Democrats cannot find enough excuses to forgive criminals, the Seattle City Council is considering lowering the bar even further

The council is considering a new criminal code regulation, known as the poverty defense, that would literally forgive some crimes if the person who committed them is poor, addicted to drugs, or has mental health issues, KOMO reported.

If passed they would become the first municipality in the United States to have such a regulation.

The defense would make it possible for an accused suspect to be absolved of a crime like theft, assault, or trespassing if the crime was committed for survival needs.

It was discussed on Tuesday by the Seattle City Council's Public Safety Committee after Councilmember Lisa Herbold and King County’s director of the Department of Public Defense Anita Khandelwal introduced it.

Picture this. Someone can assault and rob you because they need money to get food and you get no justice because that person was poor or homeless. It is a literal get out of jail free card.

“In a situation where you took that sandwich because you were hungry and you were trying to meet your basic need of satisfying your hunger; we as the community will know that we should not punish that. That conduct is excused,” Khandelwal said.

“The defendant would just have to prove that the needs fit within the definition of immediate basic need,” Asha Venkataraman, who sits on the council’s Central Staff, told the Public Safety Committee.

This is astonishing. Absolutely mind-blowing. To think that this is even being considered in a major American city is absurd.

“It’s giving people an opportunity to tell their stories and giving judges and juries the opportunity to hear those stories and make a decision based on the values of our city,” Herbold said.

Their stories? What about the stories of the store owner who has rent, employees, and bills to pay who gets robbed because the city says it is OK?

What’s more, is that City Attorney Pete Holmes sent a letter to the Council affirming that his office is already doing some of what the poverty defense calls for.

"I have worked to move the City Attorney’s Office away from prosecuting property crimes that appeared to be committed out of survival necessity," he said.

Some people, though, still remained sane.

“It’s a green light for crime,” former mayoral Public Safety Advisor Scott Lindsay said.

“If you are engaged in 100 different misdemeanors that are in our criminal justice system code, you are not going to be held liable," he said. "You are not going to be held accountable.”

It would even allow someone to steal your property to resell it so that they could pay their bills while you have to fend for yourself.

“If somebody stole a bunch of cell phones and intended to resell them to pay their rent, it would apply to that defense,” Venkatarama said.

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