End Punishment of the Poor!

Attention District Attorney Spencer Merriweather:

We the undersigned community groups, leaders, advocates, organizations, lawyers, students, educators, directly impacted members of the community and our loved ones, request that the Mecklenburg County District Attorney's Office decline to prosecute "quality of life offenses," and instead seek diversion and non-carceral alternatives whenever possible.

It has come to our attention that the District Attorney's office in collaboration with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department as well as the City of Charlotte under the Queen City Safe Initiative are increasing arrests and prosecutions of our unhoused neighbors and our neighbors struggling with mental health challenges and substance use disorders. These quality of life prosecutions include, but are not limited to, prosecuting public camping, loitering, urinating in public, and solicitation.

As more and more of our neighbors face increasing economic dispossession due to the challenging economy and the continued erosion of an already inadequate social safety net, we are deeply disturbed that the prosecutor's office would exacerbate these inevitable economic hardships through aggressive prosecution. These prosecutions do nothing to address the underlying causes that are outside of the control of many of our most marginalized and vulnerable community members.

Increased prosecution of "quality of life offenses" means for our most marginalized community members:

1) Increased contact with law enforcement, higher risk of police violence, and deeper entanglement in the criminal legal system

2) Greater instability caused by incarceration, repeated court appearances, and burdensome court-imposed conditions

3) Exposure to a jail system that is unsafe and, in many cases, deadly

4) Diversion of necessary public resources away from mental health care, housing, and substance use treatment, where it is so desperately needed and where it could be used to prevent contact with the system in the first place

5) Long-term barriers to stability, including criminal records that make it harder to secure housing, employment, and essential services

As you may know, the jail is facing record overcrowding, exacerbated by changes in the law that make it nearly impossible for poor people to buy their freedom while their cases are pending. The District Attorney’s Office is contributing to this record overcrowding in its decision to prosecute quality of life crimes that disproportionately target poorer people and has little to no correlation with public safety.

Additionally, crime is down in Charlotte, especially violent crime, according to the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department (https://www.charlottenc.gov/City-News/25crimereport). If violence is decreasing while visible poverty is increasing, then what is being labeled as “public disorder” is not a criminal issue, but an economic one. We should not be punishing our neighbors for being victims of poverty and systemic disinvestment.

We demand the prosecutor's office:

1) Decline to prosecute quality of life crimes

AND

2) Pursue alternatives to prosecution and diversion for people whose charges stem from quality of life policing, for example, charges such as resisting public officer, disorderly conduct, assault on a government official, and related charges that stem from police contact

If these practices persist, we will make them impossible to ignore: in the courts, in the community, and in future elections.

Signed