Thread by @DrRJKavanagh

You know, the sheer fact that someone has accumulated 188 arrests over less than 20 years necessarily means that they have been arrests for low level offenses that criminalize poverty and addiction, like trespass, fare evasion and possession of a small amounts of drugs.

https://twitter.com/DrPatriciaGA/status/1386422282206146562

I mean, *what* someone has been arrested for in the past has no bearing on whether a cop is justified in shooting them, period.

But a person who is arrested, prosecuted and convicted of a serious crime is likely to do a substantial prison sentence and not picking up new arrests.

Working as a public defender, it was not uncommon for people to come through arraignments with rap sheets with 50 misdemeanor convictions, maybe 100. I would say maybe every couple of shifts, someone would come through with more than 100, some more than 150.

And invariably most of those convictions would be for fare evasion and trespassing. Sometimes a few drug possession and petty theft convictions It was very rare that a person in that position would even have a felony conviction.

Now that didn’t mean the person hadn’t spent time in jail because once you get arrested on these charges more than once, the state starts seeking bail and jail time. And it is a horrible horrible cycle where a person never has a chance to get a job or housing to break free.

I should also note this article says the man police shot had 188 arrests. It doesn’t say his number of convictions. These are two different things. Being arrested doesn’t make you guilty of anything.

When you are arrested but not convicted, the records are supposed to be sealed. So media are getting this information from the police who are providing it to smear the victim. They shouldn’t be allowed to do that. I really wish media would stop being police stenographers.

I see someone in the replies commented that the article says the person was charged in the past with assaulting the police. This means nothing. Police officers brutalize people all the time and then charge them with assault.

Moreover the standard for assault on a police officer is low. The equivalent of misdemeanor assault. A police officer can have a bruised finger that is injured in the course of arresting someone and that person be charged with assault.

Maybe the journalists writing these articles could investigate what people were actually charged with, what those charges mean, and a little bit about the circumstances of a case, before they accept a police narrative that a person has a history of violence towards police.

Here's the original @chicagotribune article that refers to the killing of the "oft-arrested man." chicagotribune.com/nation-world/c…

Here's the link within that article to the circumstances of his shooting, which goes into detail about the 188 arrests. sandiegouniontribune.com/news/homelessn…