She requested information about hate crimes in D.C. and got no reply.
So D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton sent a second letter to the U.S. Attorney for the District.
Among the things Norton wants to know: How many hate crimes in the city were reported to the U.S. Attorney’s office in 2017, 2018 and so far in 2019, and what percentage were prosecuted?
Norton sent her first letter to U.S. Attorney Jessie Liu on July 17, and sent a follow up letter last week.
Norton has held multiple community meetings recently in which members of the LGBTQ community shared concerns about crimes targeting them. So the delegate is also trying to find out what percentage of reported hate crimes in recent years involved LGBTQ people, how many of those cases were prosecuted and how many prosecutions led to convictions.
The Washington Post reports that last year, D.C. police investigated 204 reported hate crimes, the largest number ever. The paper said the District had the highest per capita hate crime rate among major cities nationwide in 2018.
But the Post also found that hate crime prosecutions in the city have fallen to their lowest level in more than a decade.
In her most recent letter to Liu dated Aug. 29, Norton wrote: “I am concerned about the low prosecution rates by your office compared to those of other cities. I would like an explanation for the very high declination rate for hate crime prosecutions by your office and whether these declination decisions stemmed from a lack of resources or from other causes.”
Norton concluded her letter by requesting a response within 15 days.
