Decriminalizing Drugs—and Burglary, Too

Jesse Walker | April 28, 2009

Because of budget cuts, prosecutors in Contra Costa County, California, are backing off the drug war:

District Attorney Robert Kochly...said that beginning May 4, his office will no longer prosecute felony drug cases involving smaller amounts of narcotics. That means anyone caught with less than a gram of methamphetamine or cocaine, less than 0.5 grams of heroin and fewer than five pills of ecstasy, OxyContin or Vicodin won't be charged....

"We had to make very, very difficult choices, and we had to try to prioritize things. There are no good choices to be made here," said Kochly, a 35-year veteran prosecutor. "It's trying to choose the lesser of certain evils in deciding what we can and cannot do."

I'm all for decriminalizing narcotics, but the Contra Costa authorities might want to reconsider their priorities. According to Kochly, larger drug offenses will still be prosecuted. Shoplifting, trespassing, and misdemeanor assaults and burglaries will not.

N.B.: I find it hard to believe the D.A. doesn't understand the incentive effects of publicly announcing that you're going to stop prosecuting shoplifters. I wouldn't be surprised if the new policy amounts to a showy stunt aimed at shaking down the government for some emergency funding. There's an old trick that local bureaucrats like to play when they want to keep the funds flowing. First you sort the services taxpayers want the most from the services we wouldn't miss. Then you threaten some cuts in the first category.

Comments

Naga Sadow|4.28.09 @ 10:22AM|#

They've decriminalized shoplifting? Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!

Fuck you Walmart! You can't hide!

Contra Costa authorities|4.28.09 @ 10:25AM|#

'I wouldn't be surprised if the new policy amounts to a showy stunt aimed at shaking down the government for some emergency funding.'

Typical libertarians, with your cynicism about the motives of public servants. As it happens, the reason we're threatening to euthanize all the cute puppies at the animal shelter is because we're genuinely facing budget problems. If you want to get serious about budget priorities, we'll be at our all-expense-paid business trip in Maui.

Contra Costa authorities|4.28.09 @ 10:29AM|#

And we'll probably have to let Charles Manson out of prison. As an economy measure.

|4.28.09 @ 10:30AM|#

Next thing they'll be decriminalizing bank robberies. And we all know where that leads, Mr. Wayne.

Xeones|4.28.09 @ 10:30AM|#

As it happens, the reason we're threatening to euthanize all the cute puppies at the animal shelter is because we're genuinely facing budget problems.

I know you're being sarcastic, but this is actually about to happen in Virginia Beach.

|4.28.09 @ 10:36AM|#

They'll have to fire all the school crossing guards. And half the teachers.

But the smelly fat guy at the DMV, who processes three license plate renewals per day, and spend the rest of his time alternately masturbating in the bathroom and smoking cigarettes on the front steps- he's essential.

John|4.28.09 @ 10:42AM|#

Most of the shoplifting, robbery etc is drug related, so it is better to prosecute the source, the drugs then the result, the theft.

|4.28.09 @ 10:42AM|#

Yeah... this sounds a lot like when school bureaucrats claim that they're going to have to shut down sports and school lunches if there are funding cuts, never mentioning paid leaves, surplus administrative employees, etc...

|4.28.09 @ 10:43AM|#

They always run this game of chicken. They threaten to cut police, fire, and not fill potholes. How about killing the downtown "diversity center" money pit, or cutting back on the garbage guys who work 4 hours a day and get paid for 10 (it was in the paper, I kid you not), or the city engineers that have had a decade to make the traffic lights work and can't seem to do their jobs, or the retarded trolley for a town of 300,000 with plenty of parking, or stop trying to take over the local water company after spending millions and millions in legal fees, or or or...

Sebring Cinema|4.28.09 @ 10:43AM|#

Ah, the fat, smelly guys (and gals) at the state Dumb Mother Vuckers! The stories we could tell! How is it that gubmint pushed the notion that driving is a PRIVILEGE and NOT a right past our intellectual toll booths? Car 54, where are you?

Naga Sadow|4.28.09 @ 10:45AM|#

SugarFree,

Stop questioning HOPE and CHANGE! Obama's gonna lobotomize you one day . . .

|4.28.09 @ 10:50AM|#

Naga,

Screw Obama. He ain't BAD. He ain't NOTHIN'.

Naga Sadow As Clubber Obama|4.28.09 @ 10:52AM|#

No, I don't hate SugarFree. I pity the fool, and I will destroy any man who tries to take what I got!

|4.28.09 @ 10:53AM|#

This can only be settled with a dance off.

Naga Sadow|4.28.09 @ 10:55AM|#

SugarFree,

What is your prediction for the dance off?

|4.28.09 @ 10:56AM|#

He ain't BAD. He ain't NOTHIN'.

You ain't FAT!!! You ain't NOTHIN'!!!

Your butt is wide, well mine is too
Just watch your mouth or I'll sit on you
The word is out, better treat me right
'Cause I'm the king of cellulite
Ham on, ham on, ham on whole wheat, all right

|4.28.09 @ 10:58AM|#

Naga,

Well, since there are very few things in the world funnier than a fat guy attempting to dance, I'll get the laughter vote, but all the ladies will go for your vaguely feminine charms and you'll win.

|4.28.09 @ 10:59AM|#

Bring out the comfy chair!

Naga Sadow|4.28.09 @ 10:59AM|#

SugarFree! You fool! The correct answer was pain!

"You're just mad... 'cause tonight you suckas got served!"

Naga Sadow|4.28.09 @ 11:00AM|#

Also, I have no charm. Let alone, feminine charm. Lesson learned, I hope.

|4.28.09 @ 11:03AM|#

I was mostly referring to that gel-sculpted monstrosity you call a hairdo.

Invisible Finger|4.28.09 @ 11:04AM|#

Can I smoke indoors again?

Naga Sadow|4.28.09 @ 11:08AM|#

SugarFree,

Are you calling me a greaser?

|4.28.09 @ 11:11AM|#

I think he's calling you a pussy, Naga. Are you gonna take that?

|4.28.09 @ 11:13AM|#

Naga and Epi,

Must I really choose between the two insults?

Naga Sadow|4.28.09 @ 11:14AM|#

Epi,

He's just jealous of my glorious helmet like hairdo.

|4.28.09 @ 11:19AM|#

"In the summer we'd make meat helmets..."

The Angry Optimist|4.28.09 @ 11:21AM|#

When I'm at the beach
I'm a lucky man
I'm the only one
Who gets a tan...

Naga Sadow|4.28.09 @ 11:22AM|#

Epi,

And play in the woods?

BakedPenguin|4.28.09 @ 11:33AM|#

According to Kochly, larger drug offenses will still be prosecuted. Shoplifting, trespassing, and misdemeanor assaults and burglaries will not.

Is beating on a DA a misdemeanor assault? Just askin'.

|4.28.09 @ 11:41AM|#

If you catch a kid shoplifting in your store, and give him a good cuff on the side of his head and dropkick him out the door, what happens?

|4.28.09 @ 11:43AM|#

Is beating on a DA a misdemeanor assault?

I'm pretty sure you could "key" his car with impunity.

Go ahead and do it; we'll tell you if anybody's coming.

T|4.28.09 @ 11:44AM|#

Is beating on a DA a misdemeanor assault? Just askin'.

That's a tasering, just for askin'.

|4.28.09 @ 11:44AM|#

John, are just playing devil's advocate?

"Most of the shoplifting, robbery etc is drug related, so it is better to prosecute the source, the drugs then the result, the theft."

An alcoholic may steal to buy their beer. The lazy will steal to keep from having to work. I don't care what someone wants to buy with their stolen money. I don't care that a person may steal simply because they are too lazy to work. The natural crime that is committed is taking that which doesn't belong to them. If the goal of stealing is to have pretty clothing, do you blame the pretty clothing industry for the theft? Obviously not. That is obvious, isn't it?

|4.28.09 @ 11:45AM|#

big bigslacker,

That wasn't me. I think it was performance art.

T|4.28.09 @ 11:53AM|#

They always run this game of chicken. They threaten to cut police, fire, and not fill potholes.

Always, always, always. It's never the army of unofficial functionaries that get the threatened axe, it's the crap that matters to most people. My last school district raised taxes while decrying they didn't have enough money to meet their budget while spending half a million bucks to landscape the high school football stadium.

|4.28.09 @ 11:57AM|#

That's a tasering, just for askin'.

and your dog gets a bullet.

|4.28.09 @ 11:59AM|#

I've heard it called "the Washington Monument syndrome": if the Park Service wants money, they claim they'll have to close one of the most popular sites under their jurisdiction.

Tarpy McTalf|4.28.09 @ 12:02PM|#

Next thing they'll be decriminalizing bank robberies.

They haven't already?

|4.28.09 @ 12:12PM|#

Don't dare arm yourself to defend against the swarming thieves and thugs, you WILL be prosecuted for some gun offense or other, and lose your rights forever on conviction.

Stagman|4.28.09 @ 12:30PM|#

As someone who lives near CoCo County...

1) This is absolutely grandstanding to try stop a budget cut.

2) This is the last place Co Co County should be cutting the budget. Richmond is in their county, otherwise known as the 9th most dangerous city in the US. The county was also one of the hardest hit counties in the country by the housing bubble. So you basically have an already high crime rate combined with hundreds of vacant houses and people who are underwater.

Their DA's office was fairly low budget to begin with. They had by far the lowest salaries in the area and work out of a building best described as antique.

You also have to remember that in California, and especially the Bay Area, the government spends tons of money on really stupid shit and glorified graft. This stuff is not getting cut or eliminated.

|4.28.09 @ 12:47PM|#

John, my bad. That didn't quite seem like it was you, but I don't keep an official running log of Hit & Run poster positions - only an unofficial one.

|4.28.09 @ 3:02PM|#

Shoplifting, trespassing, and misdemeanor assaults and burglaries will not.

Isn't this (literally) an Equal Protection Clause violation? In Bush v Gore, didn't the SCOTUS rule that enforcing a law in one part of the jurisdiction (the rest of CA) and not enforcing it in another part (this guy's district) violated the EPC?

T|4.28.09 @ 4:08PM|#

In Bush v Gore, didn't the SCOTUS rule that enforcing a law in one part of the jurisdiction (the rest of CA) and not enforcing it in another part (this guy's district) violated the EPC?

So, theoretically speaking, this could lead to misdemeanor assaults not being prosecuted in CA? Hmm. I got a new business model: Celebrity Slapping Safaris.

IceTrey|4.28.09 @ 5:27PM|#

Huh? Less than a gram of those drugs is what you lick off the baggy after you're done partying for the night.