Thanks to Councilmember Tim Burgess, I had the opportunity to address the Public Safety Committee of the Seattle City Council. The Seattle Channel put up the video. (Action starts about 55 seconds into the tape, which runs just over an hour all told.)
Seattle Channel Video can be played in Flash Player 9 and up
HG says
Only downside to the presentation is that Mark will entertain the Seattle City Council with Tea Party jokes, but his students only get references to J. Wellington Wimpy when discussing discounting. Students want updated jokes too.
Steve Clay says
You ended stating the goal of receiving identical sentences for burglaries of homes in different neighborhoods. Is one cause of the current disparity just the disparity in value of goods stolen? I.e. would it be desirable to have a fixed sentence for burglary regardless of value stolen? Would such a fixed sentence overwhelm the system in high crime neighborhoods or would you think of this as a way of selectively targeting burglars?
I guess what I'm getting at: If you could wave a wand and set a fixed sentence tomorrow, all other things the same would it help?