5 arrested in connection with Bothell hotel robbery

I saw those people everyday. They need to be in jail.

 @TheTruncheon  I appreciate the civility people have here.  :)

I'll agree that it is censorship, because it's restricting material that is deemed objectionable.  

 

Let me put it in this perspective and tell me if you still hold your view...

 

Imagine you are drunk, driving and you crash into a house that destroys it (no one is harmed/killed); it was the first time you did something like this and only drove because you had no other way home... and you were drunk, so you weren't thinking straight.  Under your logic parameters, 'all arrestees' mugshots should be made public, so this would make YOUR mugshot, along with this story public knowledge.  Even though you may never do it again and it was one bad decision, your image and story are posted all over and you're labeled a troublemaker.

 

Now, does that seem fair to you?  My point is this, being perfectly honest, do you think you would feel the same way if it were your name, photo and story in the papers?  

 @NoCleverNameInMind Well, that's a nice reply and I can respect that.  However, I do not, and will not, waver from my firm belief that all arrestee's names, mugshots, and the reasons for the arrest, should be posted on a daily basis, as is done in many other areas of the country. 

 

Even after all of our back-and-forth, I cannot see any realistic justification to withhold that information from the tax-paying public.  It's prior censorship, it goes against the principles of an open society, and it's just plain wrong.

 @TheTruncheon Well, I suppose you're only left to your assumptions of me, then, because you know nothing of me or my background.  However, I'll clue you in that my views on crime and law enforcement have shifted from my youth, to what they are today, so your assumption is wrong.  

 

Of course, you claim I'm some 'head-in-the-sand' type, but you're just the opposite; you're speaking as though you demand swift and exacting justice, which is totally non-congruent with reality (or our legal system, for that matter).  Pragmatically, there is this lovely place called 'the middle' and that's where I reside.  I know what I'd like to see (criminals get 'what's coming to them'.. we all would) and I know what's currently happening (we're a society breeding more criminals; I study criminology and that means looking for PLAUSIBLE and root-cause solutions to problems.  So that means no vigilante justice as you desire, yet hide under the guise of 'security' and that means no throwing money and prisons at the problem.

 

I go to 3rd and Pike every day to work.  Other than the same homeless people there daily, it's shoppers and commuters like me; not quite sure what you think is so terrifying about Westlake.  

MLK (Rainier & the Central District) is dealing with a HUGE gentrification problem, which is the root cause for much of the crime (ignoring the gang and drug problems).  See, that's what you're failing to recognize here: crime in Seattle is largely due to the displacement of communities through gentrification; much of that crime was relegated to Seattle, but as those citizens were 'forced' out by higher rents, they went to Lynnwood and Bothell and Auburn.  But even that trumps the latent and long-standing racial divide in this city, which, arguably, is the precursor to much of the crime we see in Seattle.

 

If you think posting mug shots is going to fix ANY of those long-standing and deep issues which are truly the root-cause for crime in this city, you're the one living with your head in the sand, amigo.

 @NoCleverNameInMind There you go making assumptions about my behavior again.  How do you know I wouldn't keep a smartphone with me with links to mugshots on it?  You don't. 

 

And just because you "studied" law means nothing, there's many poorly motivated lawyers out there, in fact, 50% of lawyers graduated in the bottom of their class.

 

It sounds to me as if you use your background as specious justification for your own previously-held belief system... a classic instance of cognitive dissonance.  Maybe if you went out in the real world and were forced to deal with these types of evil criminals in the real world, instead of safely pondering your ivory-tower theoretical statistics and "studies", you might get the wake-up call you need, and see your theories for the head-in-the-sand rainbow unicorns that they really are.

 

A few places to go: down to Westlake Park...  hang out on the corner of 3rd and Pike... wander around Occidental Park... walk along Aurora between 80th and 125th... check out the neighborhoods of Broadway and The Ave too... and hang out on 23rd and Jackson and walk along MLK for a few nights too... might as well go to Bothell and Lynnwood too since that's where this latest outrage was centered...  go to each and all for a few weeks every night, for a year or so, then you can write down your own "study".  It may have some very different conclusions than your oft-mentioned "studies".

@Steven Hopkins Doing background checks and verifying identity help too.

 @TheTruncheon  No, I'm pragmatic and studied law, so I don't subscribe to the populist ideology that a public trial by fire is the best way to achieve justice.  

 

Since you haven't understood my stance and how I *HAVE* refuted you, here it is again:  I disagree with posting mugshots online and on TV, unless a person is convicted or is 'at large'.  Both are instances where there is a greater good to society to have the information (the former to know justice was served, the latter for safety) and are prudent to make the information available.  

You use the guise of protection for your quest for these mugshots, but it serves no rational purpose; someone in prison/jail isn't a threat to you, so there's no need to know what they look like.  Besides, I highly doubt you keep a portfolio of mugshots with you to thumb through when you see a suspicious person, so to the outsider, your desires are merely playing into the sensationalism of the media and a desire to 'be involved', when frankly, you have no place being involved.  But that's one of the main issues with our retributive system: people feel like they personally deserve justice, even when it's society as a whole, not the individual that has the 'wrong' to be 'righted'.  

@NoCleverNameInMind

I both strenuously disagree with you and seriously question the validity of your "studies". 

 

Your view of reality and mine are quite different.  I wish that I could subscribe to your viewpoint, as it believes in a "nicer" world, but from my own personal experiences, I find this to be merely wishful thinking.

 

You're also wrong about many of the motivations that you assume about and ascribe to my opinions, IE, "witch trial", "desire to fix the reputation...", "retributionist", etc...

 

You never directly refuted the stated reasons I gave in favor of posting all Names, Mugshots, and reasons why, of those arrested, like so many other areas of the country routinely do... in fact, you completely ignored that argument.

 

Yet, confusedly, you seem to agree with Mr. Hopkins, which is essentially exactly my argument FOR posting the information... so that ALL members of the public, including POTENTIAL VICTIMS, may also have the chance to increase their situational awareness, and possibly AVOID becoming a victim.

 @Steven Hopkins @TheTruncheon 

Fair enough Steven.  

Truncheon: you're doing the equivalent of a witch trial and trying to get public 'attention' (notice my quotes) to something that may or may not be there.

 

There have been numerous studies that show the 'perp walk' and other public display of information you're requesting do nothing but inflame the public and make it more difficult for the state to try a case.  They found the only benefit such information plays is when suspects are 'at large' and can be used as an identifier for the public to assist the police in capture.  And we're not even talking about all the instances where people are wrongly accused, but defamed all over the media... I'm willing to bet your fervent interest to plaster the mug shots of people isn't as strong as your desire to fix the reputation of those falsely accused.  

 

As most jurists will agree, it's better to set 10 guilty men free, than it is to condemn 1 innocent (though that's a hard concept for most retributists, as you seem to be); I argue the same holds true in public opinion.

 @Steven Hopkins  Thank you Mr. Hopkins.  It is nearly always in the public's best interest to have this kind of information about the evil-doer in our midst, anything else is a form of selective prior censorship using arguments of confused and hazy reasoning.

 

The "entire community" is made up of individuals and they all SHOULD BE AS BIASED AS THE ACTUAL WITNESSES TO THE INCIDENT WHICH CAUSED THE ARREST!  The few individuals who "happened to be nearby" or were victims, and actually experienced the incident will now, naturally, know who those arrested are, and will be able to identify them in the future as having caused a big enough problem that they got themselves arrested, and so in the future be able to better protect themselves and their loved ones from KNOWN TROUBLE-MAKERS. 

 

All that the posting of Names & Mugshots does is allow for the individuals who make up the "entire community" who DIDN'T HAPPEN TO ACTUALLY BE INVOLVED IN THE INCIDENT WHEN IT OCCURRED, TO BE ABLE TO ALSO SHARE IN THE PERSONAL SAFEGUARDING BENEFITS OF THIS KNOWLEDGE.

 

Finally, many, many other police departments all over the country routinely release the names and mugshots of EVERYONE arrested each day, along with the reason why.  There's NO GOOD REASON why we shouldn't here as well.

 

That's my honest answer to your honest question.