Under Washington state law, any assault on a health care worker can be a felony — including spitting, slapping or other actions that might otherwise be treated as minor offenses with fewer consequences for the accused. The decades-old statute was meant to protect providers, who are increasingly harmed in violent attacks.
But an investigation by The Seattle Times and The Marshall Project found the majority of the people charged by King County prosecutors under that law showed signs of serious mental illness, with dozens of patients in severe crisis punished for behavior that landed them in the hospital in the first place.
From 2018 through 2022, county prosecutors filed 151 cases for felony assault on a health care worker. Court records show that 76% of these cases were filed against people with signs of serious mental illness. That included people who were involuntarily committed to a psychiatric facility, were in an emergency room for a mental health evaluation or had EMTs respond to their mental health crisis.
I don’t know how many times it needs to be said but felonies don’t fix problems. Deterrence keeps honest people honest. IMHO we should almost certainly read news stories like this as reminders that American needs better mental health policy and infrastructure. People who are experiencing mental illness do not magically go away when we ignore them. Slapping felonies on people makes it harder for them to improve their lives, not easier.
Sorry for the rant, just needed to say it today.