2 ms·
Drug dealing is different, though. It's not necessarily a choice between homelessness and drug dealing; it might be between living in an SRO, barely getting by,
by dehrmann 5y ago
Drug dealing is different, though. It's not necessarily a choice between homelessness and drug dealing; it might be between living in an SRO, barely getting by, and drug dealing. At some point, there's a threshold where drug dealing has the better outcome, but the situation you're coming from wasn't that bad.
- akerl_ 5y agoIs it? The comment I replied to above presents the idea that this court decision is bad because it telegraphs to drug dealers that they can get away with existing in the Tenderloin, because the courts have determined that the government can’t preemptively ban then from doing so. The comment above posits that this removes an effective disincentive and will lead to more drug dealers in the area. My premise is that no drug dealer is factoring in this kind of disincentive at all into their calculus. Studies have shown that even more severe criminal penalties like long-term jail sentences don’t serve as an effective deterrent, because they don’t actually treat the factors that lead to somebody deciding to commit a crime, and once they do, the concept that there may be a harsh penalty if caught isn’t a factor.