HAMSTERDAM LIVES! Baltimore Will No Longer Be Prosecuting Drug Possession, Prostitution, Or Low Level Crimes

NBC News- A year ago, as the coronavirus began to spread across Maryland, Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby stopped prosecuting drug possession, prostitution, minor traffic violations and other low-level offenses, a move aimed at curbing Covid-19's spread behind bars.

That shift — repeated by prosecutors in many other cities — didn’t just reduce jail populations. In Baltimore, nearly all categories of crime have since declined, confirming to Mosby what she and criminal justice experts have argued for years: Crackdowns on quality-of-life crimes are not necessary for stopping more serious crime.

On Friday, Mosby announced that she was making her pandemic experiment permanent, saying Baltimore — for decades notorious for runaway violence and rough policing — had become a case study in criminal justice reform.

In the 12 months since she ordered scaled-back enforcement, violent crime is down 20 percent and property crime has declined 36 percent, she said. Homicides inched down, though Baltimore still has one of the highest homicide rates among cities nationwide. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University found sharp reductions in calls to police complaining about drugs and prostitution, she said. “Clearly, the data suggest there is no public safety value in prosecuting low-level offenses,” Mosby said at a news conference.

A wise man was once quoted about the legalization of drugs: "Bunny, you cocksucker, I got to give it to you, a brilliant idea. Insane and illegal, but stone fucking brilliant nonetheless. After all my putting my foot up people’s asses to decrease the numbers, he comes in and in one stroke, gets a fucking 14 percent decrease". 

Now as a professional idiot, I have no clue if creating a real life Hamsterdam will actually work in the longterm or if these stats are just a product of this fake coronaworld we are living in during this "paaaaandemic". People who actually spend their entire professional in the criminal justice world can embrace debate about this very subject. But I applaud Baltimore for thinking outside the box from a few hundred miles away by throwing the drugs, prostitutes, and other smaller criminal issues into a paper bag. To be clear, that paper bag is proverbial. Ladies of the night deserve better than that just like Bunny Colvin did. He was good po-lice. 

Anyway, if it worked on TV and it worked in a limited sample size, it could just work, right? Excuse me, I misspoke. It's not TV, it's HBO. But the sentiment still stands, if not more so since HBO >>>>>>>>>> TV. So best of luck to Mrs. Mosby even if a fictional character will be seen as the true hero of Baltimore if it works.

P.S. Anybody that complains about minor traffic violations no longer being prosecuted should be thrown in jail because those are the true threats to society.