SEATTLE, WA – A Seattle councilwoman found herself in a predicament after somebody threw a rock through her window. Councilmember Lisa Herbold, a leader in the city’s “Defund the Police” movement called 9-1-1 to report a crime in which she is currently trying to make legal within city limits. Her equality crime bill would give anyone under any kind of duress a free pass on any misdemeanor crime and immediate forgiveness.
Herbold found that punishment and incarceration are harmful and ineffective tools to address behaviors affected by mental illness and poverty and that the city’s crime laws disproportionately targeted individuals of color. Instead, Herbold said the city should develop responses that do not burden individuals with criminal history or the trauma of incarceration.