Posted by Dann Mead Smith on Aug 28, 2019
When asked about what we can do about our criminal justice system, Scott Lindsay said, “Help educate influential people.”  Our task is “to shape the conversation in different ways and start to lead that conversation.” 
 
President Kim introduced our guest speaker, Scott Lindsay, an attorney, who has previously served as the public safety adviser to the City of Seattle and was senior national security counsel to the U.S. House Oversight Committee. He also founded the Seattle Navigation Team that works with people in homeless encampments.
 
Scott started with images of two contrasting visions of Seattle and how the city is perceived as dealing with homelessness and drug/mental health issues: one is a recent New York Times article, “Seattle has figured out how to end the war on drugs,” and the other, KOMO TV’s “Seattle is Dying” special; a public health approach vs. a criminal justice approach to the drug, homelessness and public safety crisis in our city. 
 
“So which is it,” Scott asked, “the New York Times or the KOMO stories?”
 
 
Scott was commissioned to do a thorough study about what life on the streets of Seattle is like by examining 100 prolific offenders (those who have been arrested more than four times over the past 12 months).  Scott started by creating a database of these 100 offenders.  His findings are included in a report, System Failure: Report on Prolific Offenders in Seattle’s Criminal Justice System.
 
  • These persistent offenders cycle through the criminal justice system with no impact on their behavior.
  • These 100 individuals make up 3600 criminal cases just in our state (he did not examine any of their out-of-state arrests) and they had 636 bookings in the King County Jail over the last 12 months.
  • 87 of the 100 had been re-arrested up to six times and many had 4 to 5 police contacts before an arrest.
  • Most if not all of them struggle with addiction, homelessness, and have mental health conditions.
  • Persistent offenders fail to comply with court-ordered conditions in almost every case; nearly 100% of these 100 individuals failed to appear for their pre-trial hearings. “They violate their conditions of release and there are no consequences,” Scott said.

He walked us through the cycle that we see in our city of: arrest, release in 24-48 hours, re-arrested and then released again…
 
Scott mentioned that many of the crimes committed by these persistent offenders involve theft so they can pay for drugs; some can have a drug habit of $100/day.  And of course, these crimes often lead to more serious offenses like assault.  He walked us through “the ecosystem,” as he called it, at the 3rd&Pike area downtown where people trade stolen goods for drugs or drug money and then use the drugs in public bathrooms in the area.
 
Persistent offenders with mental illness are almost immediately put back on the street with no mental health treatment no matter how many crimes they have committed.  They are not receiving help, instead they are put back on the street and have to deal with being homeless.  The city and county are “doing very little to nothing to help change this cycle. People engaged in criminal activity know they are unlikely to face consequences in Seattle.”
 
This is “creating a magnet effect as people look at Seattle for a path of least resistance; Seattle is that place to use drugs. People are coming from out of state because it is well known that Seattle is where you can live in this cycle without disruption.”
 
He then talked about the consequences that this reality is having on our police officers: they “have lost confidence that the criminal justice system will back them up.”  He said that they are “losing the motivation to work and make the tough arrests; it’s not worth their effort.”
 
He returned to his initial question, Should we pursue a public health approach or a criminal justice approach?  “We are doing neither.  We stopped doing a criminal justice approach nor are we addressing public health issues like mental health and addiction.”
 
He concluded that he tried to “provide a window into a larger crisis and an alternative vision state: ‘If I had a hammer…”
 
We need to provide a comprehensive individual-level plan that is coordinated for prolific offenders including meaningful treatment for addiction, shelter and housing solutions, job counseling, and incentives for approved behavior and escalating consequences for repeated bad behavior.
 
During the Q/A portion he was asked about:
 
  • Should we be spending more money? “It’s so much more than money.”  He said that we have been increasing funding but “the money is not going to the right location.”
  • Someone simply commented that he should run for mayor.
  • Someone asked if he had seen the results from Snohomish and Benton counties as they have seen their rates drop when using a similar type of approach that he is advocating for.
  • And, is the recent judgment/fine against Johnson & Johnson in Oklahoma regarding their role in the opioid crisis part of the answer? He said it could be part of it, “though it will be interesting to see if states decide to spend this money similar to how they spent the tobacco settlement funds.” He also mentioned that opioid abuse is still a major problem, but that meth addiction has overcome opioids on the streets of Seattle.
He said, what he is advocating are “pretty straightforward solutions: give meaningful options and escalating consequences while providing stability and shelter options, and meet with counselors as they exit jail. We stopped doing it in Seattle.”
 
He would also “ban pilot programs.  We are too far passed it.  We need systems change and fundamental redirection of services.  We are having the wrong discussion.”
 
When asked about what we can do, he offered, “Help educate influential people.”  Our task is “to shape the conversation in different ways and start to lead that conversation.” 
 
President Kim opened our meeting on another beautiful summer day and brought the Rotary Rogues up on stage to lead us in, “If I Had a Hammer” with Kim on backing vocals!  Joel Paget inspired us with his thoughts on “grace” and “justice,” his daughter’s name!  He started his inspiration by saying if he was governor, today would have been a holiday, “any day over 80 degrees in Seattle should be a state holiday!”
 
Visitors this week included a Rotarian from Italy and Jasper Peet-Martel, a Rotary Peace Fellow at Uppsala University, Sweden, who has been working on peacebuilding, mediation and countering violent extremism in Myanmar.
 
President Kim commented on how much she appreciated the members who were involved with the special Rotary meeting at Town Hall last week. She thanked everyone for “an extraordinary effort” including our great Rotary staff of Caroline and Mariah. She said it was “an impressive example of team work.”
 
Faith Ireland introduced our new member, Jon Zetlmaier of Madrona Financial Group, also known by some as “JZ.”  He lives in Seattle and has a classification of Financial Advising and Wealth Management.  Faith said that, Jon “finds the polarization and negativity of today discouraging and is looking forward to his time in Rotary to provide an antidote with its positive mission and message.”
 
Lacey Clark invited us to a special dinner event to benefit FareStart next Thursday, September 5th for those who are “interested in giving back, dining on amazing food, and having our own Rotary members serve the food as volunteer waiters.”  You can RSVP via her and find more details in the Totem newsletter.
 
Taylor Shimizu announced the first Rotary Networking Night of the new Rotary year, September 26th at the Hard Rock Café in Seattle. It’s free to attend and is a great way to get to “know people in the community,” and they have roof top deck!
 
President Kim thanked everyone who was part of Rotary’s Harvest Against Hunger volunteer day at Northwest Harvest on August 10th.  She then asked everyone who has ever volunteered with Rotary to pack food at NW Harvest to stand; “think of the thousands of pounds of food these people represent!”
 
 
Thanks to Totem Reporter, Dann Mead Smith! 
Media Sponsors