Curley: New Washington misdemeanors bill is ‘simply going soft on criminals again’
Feb 11, 2025, 9:31 AM | Updated: Feb 20, 2025, 11:24 am
Exterior of the Washington state Capitol campus. (Photo: Julia Dallas, MyNorthwest)
(Photo: Julia Dallas, MyNorthwest)
The Washington Legislature’s 2025 session has been littered with bills and proposals, all with the potential to change the state’s landscape. However, KIRO Newsradio host John Curley believes one Washington bill is dangerous and would invite more lawlessness — House Bill 1113, which intends to minimize the penalties for lower-ranking misdemeanors.
“If you had lower misdemeanors, simple misdemeanors like you peed somewhere or you were drunk in public or … shoplifting, you can now ask a judge to basically have it go away, showing that you somehow completed a program where you had anger management issues, and you completed that program and they would all go away,” KIRO Newsradio reporter Matt Markovich said on “The John Curley Show.”
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How does the bill go easy on criminals?
The Democrat-backed bill was created in an attempt to prevent people from having their future impeded by having a record, even a misdemeanor record.
“This is just simply going soft on criminals again,” Curley said. “Let’s say you get a DUI. This (bill) is not part of a DUI, but the reason people don’t drink and drive is because they know if they get caught, they’re in a lot of trouble, right? It has an effect on their future. So you go in and steal something or break some sort of law, what does it matter? Because it’s not going to affect me. It does have an effect. People do change their behavior if they know that there’s going to be a penalty assessed to it.
“Here’s the question, will we see crime increase or decrease because there is no penalty associated with it?” Curley added.
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Listen to the full conversation here:
Listen to John Curley on “The John Curley Show” weekday afternoons from 3-7 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.
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Tune in to KIRO Newsradio weekdays at 3pm for The John Curley Show.
