Police and law enforcement experts in California are arguing that the term “looting” shouldn’t be used to describe the recent large-scale thefts in California because it has racial connotations.
Despite dozens of stores and businesses across California being ransacked over the weekend in a brazen crime spree, some authorities seem more concerned over language, insisting it should be described as “organized robberies” instead.
According to a report Tuesday by local ABC affiliate KGO, the large-scale thefts seen over the weekend aren’t considered looting under the California Penal Code.
“The penal code defines looting as ‘theft or burglary … during a ‘state of emergency,’ ‘local emergency,’ or ‘evacuation order’ resulting from an earthquake, fire, flood, riot or other natural or manmade disaster,’” the report said.
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ABC7 News
The outlet then quoted two experts who suggested the term “looting” had racial connotations.
Lorenzo Boyd, a criminal justice professor at the University of New Haven, said: “Looting is a term that we typically use when people of color or urban dwellers are doing something. We tend not to use that term for other people when they do the exact same thing.”
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