“Cash for criminals” – San Francisco is about to pay high-risk individuals actual money to stop them from shooting people as gun crimes in the city continue to be on the rise.
A pilot program invented by the Human Rights Commission and Office of Economic and Workforce Development plans to pay criminals not to shoot anyone.
The project, funded through the Dream Keeper Initiative, will provide $300 a month to 10 individuals at high risk of being on either end of a shooting. As Fox News reports, it will launch in October.
As per Newsweek, Sheryl Davis, executive director of the Human Rights Commission, said:
“These small investments can transform the lives of individuals, but they can also transform communities.
It’s not necessarily as cut and dry as folks may think. It’s not as transactional as, ‘Here’s a few dollars so that you don’t do something bad,’ but it really is about how you help us improve public safety in the neighborhood.”
https://t.co/1wSrOV6LcM Astonishingly, this is real. https://t.co/ihD4nDtnEa
— An American Monarchist in Virginia (@MonarchistSpirt) September 1, 2021
Along with the $300 cash, participants will be paired with life coaches and will have an opportunity to get an extra $200 per month.
The individuals chosen to take part in the program will be matched with life coaches from the Street Violence Intervention Program. Moreover, they will serve as “community ambassadors” and will have the chance to receive an extra $200 monthly through ways such as, working, going to school, or being a mediator in potentially violent situations.
According to the San Francisco Examiner, payments are made in the form of gift cards and will be monitored.
Previously, Mayor London Breed agreed the project could decrease significantly the violence amongst San Francisco residents. Last month, during a Violence Prevention Summit hosted by the Human Rights Commission, she said:
“My desire is to get to them, not to just make an arrest, but to get to them and to try and figure out if they would be willing to work with us on something that is an alternative. We can’t just put them in a program without making sure that they have money, without making sure that they have something to take care of themselves.”
San Francisco will pay people to not shoot others: 'Cash for criminals' https://t.co/iYZuBF2pMu
— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 1, 2021
Richmond, California, has already launched a similar program after gun crimes skyrocketed.
In 2019, a study noted that the Richmond project has helped reduce gun homicides n the city by 55%.
However, other similar initiatives haven’t been as successful. In a Wednesday op-ed, the Washington Examiner’s David Freddoso stated:
“It was also tried in Sacramento, where its promoters boast that ‘only’ 44% of participants were subsequently arrested on new charges — well, as long as you don’t count about one-third of the participants who dropped out or were arrested in its first six months. (D’oh!)
Violent criminals need jail. They do not need cash. People who shoot other people need to be walled off in prisons and kept away from the rest of us.”
Meanwhile, California works to become the first state to pay drug addicts to stay sober. Gov. Gavin Newsom has already asked the federal government to use tax dollars to fund the program through Medicaid.
