Despite a sweeping anti-crime bill passed by the D.C. Council just this week, some members of Congress are pushing forward with a new crime measure they want to impose on the city.
Republican Rep. Byron Donalds, of Florida, introduced the bill called the D.C. Criminal Reforms To Immediately Make Everyone Safer Act, or D.C. CRIMES Act.
“Crime is out of control in the nation’s capital,” said Donalds at a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing Thursday.
The bill would prevent D.C. lawmakers from changing the District’s sentencing laws and limit judges in handing out lighter sentences under the Youth Rehabilitation Act to only those offenders who are 18 and younger — instead of 24 and under. The bill would also require the D.C. Attorney General to post data on juvenile crime on a publicly available website.
Donalds said everyone is aware of the crime problem in the District.
“They’ve been to a CVS in the District of Columbia, where everything is under glass and you have to hit the customer service button just to get an 8-ounce tube of lotion,” he said.
Carjackings and robbery are also growing problems in D.C., Donalds said.
During a hearing on the bill, Republican Rep. James Comer, of Kentucky, said one of the things the bill does is remove the power of judges to give lesser sentences to younger adults.
“This bill requires that we treat adult criminals as adults, like the rest of the country.”
D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, who released a lengthy statement opposing the measure, spoke out against the bill, calling it undemocratic and paternalistic.
“I am deeply concerned about the violent crime spike in D.C., though violent crime is down this year,” Norton said in the statement. “On Tuesday, the D.C. Council passed legislation that it believes will reduce crime. To suggest that a member of Congress from Florida knows or cares more about public safety in D.C. than D.C.’s locally elected officials is patronizing.”
The measure is also opposed by Democratic Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, who chastised the lawmakers sponsoring the bill, and called the Republican measures “monkey wrenches thrown in to block all of the progress the District currently is making this week.”
The D.C. Council this week passed a measure toughening penalties on gun possession, retail theft and carjackings.
Last year, the Republican-led House led a charge to overturn a controversial D.C. law that would have lightened some maximum sentences for offenses, such as burglary, carjacking and robbery. That measure passed the Senate and was signed into law by President Joe Biden.
A separate measure to overturn a D.C. police accountability bill — approved by Congress in a bipartisan vote — was vetoed by Biden.
Separately Thursday, the House Oversight and Reform Committee also took up another Republican measure to repeal D.C.’s recently enacted vehicle emission standards, sponsored by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, of Florida.
Norton said the measure would seek to interfere not with D.C. laws but municipal regulations.
“This bill represents a new low in meddling,” Norton said.
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
