Progressives really, truly believe they have the solutions to achieving utopia. They believe it can be achieved, in part, via “criminal justice reform.”
So the news that the progressive King County Council wants to let community groups determine punishments for criminals is not surprising.
King County’s progressive judicial system has already set the precedence via their lackadaisical respect for law and order. That progressive-run area has multiple problems with homelessness, drug users and repeat offenders. The result is that criminals are RARELY punished for their crimes. See the following examples:
King County judge on why repeat offenders get no punishment: “We’re just talking about property crime”
Resident in liberal utopia of Seattle who has been targeted by homeless: “Our community is just falling apart”
How many convictions does it take for Seattle City Attorney to place a homeless criminal in jail after his latest assault?
Seattle Homicide Suspect Repeat Offender, Booked at Least 46 Times
Since the judges can’t adequately punish repeat offenders, maybe citizens can get it right? The King County Council seems to think so since they approved a criminal justice diversion program that will let community groups decide what punishment, if any, should be handed out for a select group of accused felons. The diversion program was approved on November 17 by a vote of 9 to zero.
Some of the details from KOMO News:
“Instead of facing a judge, juveniles and adults accused of a first-time, non-violent felony offense will be offered an alternative where a non-profit community panel will decide how the accused person can be held accountable for their crime.
Suspects accused of violent crimes and crimes against persons would not be eligible for the diversion program, and if the offender fails to follow through with the community groups recommended punishment or accountability, the original criminal charges could still be pursued in court.
“We can send that person instead (of jail) to a community accountability group, who will define what they think accountability means,” said King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg.
Accountability would not include jail or even a conviction, said Satterberg, who declined to define what accountability means.
“That’s up to the community groups,” he said, adding that it would target 800 juveniles and 1,000 adults to start. “These are low-level felonies, property offenses, no domestic violence, no sexual assault cases (and) decisions you would make if you were in my shoes.”
Read their whole story here.
I guess the community group citizens can’t make any decisions much worse than the local judges already do. But then again, you know how crazy progressives can be.
DCG
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