CRIME & HOMELESSNESS

As a criminal defense attorney and criminal prosecutor, I have experience addressing concerns around criminal behavior from both sides of the issue. As a prosecutor, I worked with victims of crime and saw the impact that those crimes have on people's real lives. As a defense attorney, I saw the situation from the other side. 

The biggest problems facing our municipal criminal justice systems right now are substance abuse issues, homelessness, and mental illness. Many times, these are NOT matters for the criminal justice system, but due to these incidents involving unhoused individuals, the behavior is frequently criminalized. The fact is that being homeless itself is not a crime. Being an alcoholic or drug addict in itself is not a crime. Having a mental illness is not a crime. However, for many reasons, often a lack of availability of resources or critical social workers or crisis responders, these individuals end up in the criminal justice system.  

A housed individual may have all of these same issues. For example, a housed individual may have a substance abuse problem or mental illness. However, if they have a home, family, and a support system, then these individuals if they are lucky will not have to interact with the criminal justice system. Laws that target homeless people are not okay. Many of the activities that homeless people engage in that are criminalized would be completely lawful if they were in their own residence. However, they don't have a residence. This is why these crimes are said to specifically target homeless people. 

Laws and policies that seek only to remove homeless people from the area are not sufficient or appropriate to address the homelessness crisis. As City Council, I would use my experience as a prosecutor and defense attorney to support changes that address serious safety issues in our community, focus on diversion for activities associated with homelessness rather than criminalization and incarceration, and to provide people in crisis with the resources they need rather than using jails as "housing" for homeless people.

For example, the City of Lakewood contracts with Nisqually Corrections to house defendants at a cost of $136.50 per night plus booking fees. At that rate, it costs the city over $4000 to house one individual in the jail for 30 days. Depending on the case, the history of the defendant, the court, and prosecutor policies, a defendant may serve much more time than 30 days. These examples are specific to municipal misdemeanors and gross misdemeanors, not felony crimes.

Imagine that a homeless person is accused of theft for stealing a food item that cost less than $20. Let's say that the individual has a lengthy criminal history of similar incidents related to homelessness, like theft of food, trespass for sleeping or camping somewhere, and multiple charges for pedestrian interference for such incidents as having a foot in the road, laying on a sidewalk, or wandering into the road. Imagine because of that history, the prosecutor asks for 30 days jail. The defendant is in custody, so they decide to take the deal to resolve the case.

Now, the city is paying over $4000 to house someone for stealing a sandwich and a bottle of water. There is very little justice or public interest in this scenario, but it is not that uncommon to see at municipal courts across the state. The reality is that many defendants will serve much more than 30 days, even for petty crimes. Imagine someone steals food, diapers, formula, or clothing and then faces 60 days jail, at a cost of over $8000 for the city to house the individual in custody. These are massive leaks in the budget that are justified due to the nature of these cases being labeled as "criminal" activity. As a defense attorney, I have personally witnessed a city pay over $12,000 to incarcerate a homeless individual for over 90 days for various crimes related to homelessness, mental illness, or drug addiction.  This is enough money to buy a tiny home. This is also money that could be spent on services for individuals in crisis. 

However, the crisis is much more complex. We can look to other cities for addressing this crisis. Lakewood needs more shelters, resources, and affordable housing. While the city has partnered with other cities, like Tacoma and Spanaway, to address homelessness, we also need to focus on providing resources here in our community. The solution to homelessness cannot be just a plan to incarcerate or relocate people.