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Comment by wfhbata | Hacker News Reader

They won’t try because an arrest is pointless if the DA refuses to prosecute.

Elect a real DA who respects the law and law-abiding citizens, and the police will be able to do their jobs. Until then it’s a lost cause.

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This is my problem. I have video footage of a man walking out of his tent (that he is illegally camping in, btw) , walking across the street, coming to my car and removing the catalytic converter and then walking back to his tent. The police arrested him but had to release him when the Seattle city attorneys office refused to prosecute.

It won't do anything but make you feel better, but you could try bringing a civil case.

It will do something. It will cost money and waste time.

I think the expression in this case is "getting water from a stone" - what's the point in suing somebody who doesn't have anything to give you anyway?

Why live in a place like that? There's a flight of tech talent from these cities, and it's hard not to see why.

This is the correct answer. Why on earth would you live there? I spend 9 months/year in Sunnyvale, CA, about 40 miles south of SF. I refuse to go up there.

Hungry people will try to eat whatever they can. Tired people will try to sleep wherever they can. Unhappy people will try to feel better however they can.

Criminalizing these activities is incredibly costly and doesn't truly solve anything.

People are quick to question the morality of desperate unhappy poor people when they break the law when they don't have enough resources or options, and yet we rarely consider the immorality of those who hoard incredible wealth they don't need, when there are desperate unhappy poor people in need.

Shouldn't those with great power have the greater responsibility?

There are many options to get fed in America, even if you don't have money. Here [1] is a list of food banks in SF.

[1] https://food-banks.org/assistance/san_francisco_ca.html

And yet people still go hungry. It's a lot easier to feed yourself if you have money. Also not everybody has 5 and a half hours to wait in line.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/local-politics/article/S-F-hunge...

Are you saying that homeless and vagrants are too busy and it's much less time consuming to simply steal? Is that really a moral argument? You're that concerned about the productive time of homeless people?

See my answer above. As for my argument above that about comparative morality, it's more complex and nuanced, but it boils down to the idea of agency and praxis, and the responsibility of those who have everything they need.

Also a large number of people receiving food aid are neither homeless nor vagrants, but the working poor.

In good faith, is the proposal here that long lines at food banks morally justify stealing?

No, I was responding to the idea that the existence at food banks means nobody needs to go hungry.

But I do think folks here have a lot of illusions about the nature of poverty and who is poor that they've gathered mostly by vague cultural osmosis and conservative propagated myths, not by working with or for poor folks, talking to those who do, academic studies (either doing, or reading), or even watching documentaries.

And what of the emotional and psychological effects victims of crime experience, doesn’t matter because they hold a job right?

Addicts will rob whatever they can.

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