&gt;“We are not going to criminalize people for being poor,” he said. “That criminalization is only going to make it harder for them to get out of poverty.”<p>I don&#x27;t understand this attitude -- policing crime and taking actions to reduce the number of victims isn&#x27;t &quot;against&quot; those in poverty.  If you&#x27;re poor and committing non-trivial crimes, it&#x27;s your personal choices working against you, not society.<p>Maybe I&#x27;m too &quot;east coast,&quot; but I&#x27;m also not comfortable with the idea that criminal acts should be excused if the perpetrator is under some income threshold or got himself&#x2F;herself hooked on drugs.<p>For those &quot;voting down&quot;, please explain to me how my worldview is disagreeable.  I&#x27;m not against changing my mind based on solid arguments.