After legislating themselves into crisis over the years, the D.C. Council on Tuesday passed an emergency crime bill to counter a sharp rise in violent crimes.
The Council of the District of Columbia voted 12-1 before their two-month summer recess on a bill introduced by Councilmember Brooke Pinto that will give judges more leeway — there has been a 33% increase in violent crime with 129 people killed as of July 10, according to DC police data. The council also unanimously approved a measure clarifying when police can pursue suspects in vehicles, which Pinto said clears up confusion over existing restrictions that were interpreted to mean car chases are virtually never allowed, DCist reported.
Mayor Muriel Bowser, a strong advocate for the bill, said in a statement, “The legislation that the council passed today will fill gaps in our criminal justice system and, in doing so, will increase accountability for violent and criminal behavior and make our city safer.”
The legislation that the Council passed today will fill gaps in our criminal justice system and, in doing so, will increase accountability for violent and criminal behavior and build a #SaferStrongerDC. pic.twitter.com/iEeWnd3vtO
— Mayor Muriel Bowser (@MayorBowser) July 11, 2023
Council of the District of Columbia Chair Phil Mendelson, who suggested in March that the crime surge was more of a “perception,” said ahead of the vote, “You can get away with murder in this city.”
“We have a crisis of violent crime in the District. Unless things turn around quickly, we could have a third straight year with more than 200 homicides in more than two decades,” Pinto said, according to DCist. “I hear from residents every single day that people are fearful and want urgent action.”
Councilmember Robert White (D-At Large) also supported the measure but said more efforts are needed after citing the death of an Afghan interpreter who survived the Taliban but was shot and killed in DC on Monday while driving for Lyft.
“There’s no question we had to do something. We saw a man come from another country who was an interpreter for special forces, jumped through incredible hoops to get to the United States, move somewhere, didn’t feel like it was safe enough for his family, came to our area and was killed in cold blood,” White said. “Last week at church, the priest in his eighties who was supposed to fill in for my pastor couldn’t make it because he was beat over the head in a robbery in the city.”
US forces interpreter in Afghanistan gunned down working as a Lyft driver DC https://t.co/NCzMV9DBEy via @BIZPACReview
— BPR based (@DumpstrFireNews) July 7, 2023
“These are the types of things people are unfortunately seeing every day, and it’s getting worse and not better,” he added. “So there’s an expectation from the city that we act today, but we’re going to have to do more in the fall.”
At the same time, there were those advocating for more of the same criminal justice policies that got them where they are today.
“There is no credible evidence that pre-trial detention would make D.C. safer. We’re doing the same thing we did in 1994,” former D.C. prosecutor Lewis George said during the debate on Tuesday afternoon, according to DCist. “We have books on this, we have scholarly articles on this. It’s the same reaction… we cannot make the same mistake. This is how mass incarceration happens. Bit by bit. We do not need to choose between bad strategies or nothing.”
Emily Cassometus, director of government and external affairs for the left-wing D.C. Justice Lab nonprofit, downplayed the surge in crime while advocating for more “resources” for the criminal-minded.
“Every summer, crime goes up. Every summer, someone tries to introduce an emergency bill to do something about it. And every summer, these bills fail to make any difference. And it’s because they’re not tailored to what actually works to reduce crime,” she said. “In D.C., we know that locking more people up and that having big, sweeping generalizations doesn’t work. We know that having really specific targeted interventions does, and that giving people support and resources does.”
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Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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