Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell offers more concern for criminals than their victims

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell participated in a mayoral debate against Katie Wilson on Thursday and when asked about repeat offenders in the Emerald City, he said that his top concern is compassion for the criminal.

"Mayor Harrell," the moderator asked. "I want to go back to the repeat offender question. If somebody has offended 6, 7, 8 time, even if it's a minor offense, but they continue to fail to turn their life around. At what point do you balance public safety to giving this person some accountability?"

"So let me make something very clear," Harrell said. "I was the one that  sponsored the Ban the Box legislation when everyone opposed it because the criminal system has had a disparate impact on black and brown communities. Let me lead with that." That legislation is one that prevents employers from asking if an applicant has a criminal record.

"This is how a society dies," said White House aide Stephen Miller.

"So when this person is committing 6 or 7 crimes, I don't know his or her story, maybe they were abused as a child, maybe they're hungry. So my remedy is to find their life story to see how we could help, first.

"I have no desire to put them in jail, but I need to protect you, and that's the calibration that we have. I put police officers on the stand cross examine them.

"So whether they commit 7 or 8 crimes, to me, is not the issue. The issue is, why are they committing these crimes?

"And so we have a health based strategy. We authorized our police, our fire department, for example, to be the first fire department in the country to administer buprenorphine. I want these people treated.

"So for me, it's not 7 or 8, it's how do I go upstream to find out what's in their life?

But at the end of the day, I also have to protect you, and that's the calibration that we've done, and we are best practice In this country in doing it," he concluded.