DC Mayor Backs Youth Detention Bill Opposed by City’s Attorney General
© AP Photo / Manuel Balce Ceneta
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A bitter political fight is raging in the US’ capital city as politicians debate about how to tackle rising crime. In the latest act, a new emergency bill has been introduced that would largely circumvent the deliberative process that has bogged down a previous bill for months. However, it has stiff opposition, including the city’s top prosecutor.
District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser has thrown her weight behind a new emergency bill that would provide new ways for police to detain children accused of violent crimes ahead of their trials, as well as a host of other legal changes intended to curb the rising rates of certain crimes in the city.
The bill was introduced by Councilmember Brooke Pinto, who represents one of the city’s wealthiest wards and chairs the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety. Classified as an emergency bill, it will only require a single vote by the Council in order to become law, but will only be in effect for 90 days. Typically, bills must begin in a committee, be voted on twice by the council, and be reviewed by the US Congress, since the District of Columbia is under the unique purview of Congress and is not a US state.
It is effectively a recapitulation of a crime bill pitched by Bowser in May, but with a number of additions.
The bill introduces a slew of changes, including supporting pretrial detention for minors and adults accused of violent crimes; push the court system to expedite criminal cases where a child is a victim; allow the use of GPS data from ankle monitors to be used in court to prove an accused person is guilty of a crime; add strangulation to the definition of a crime of violence in the DC code; and make firing a gun in public a felony offense. It would also allow extradition for misdemeanor offenses committed outside the city.
The city has seen an increase in a number of crimes this year, with violent crime up by 30% as compared to the same time last year, according to MPD statistics. Homicides are up by 19%, carjackings have increased, and 2,000 more cars have been stolen as compared to last year.
“I don’t want to give anybody the impression that I want any person to go to jail that doesn’t deserve it,” Bowser said recently. “I also believe that every person is presumed innocent until proven guilty, and they get a fair trial. But I believe too that if you used a gun… and you walk out the next day with no consequence whatsoever, we are not going to drive down crime. That’s true for juveniles who are acting like adults, and that’s true for adults.”
The move has the support of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), which has blamed the crime spike on a shortage of officers and a lack of funds. However, while MPD’s ranks have shrunk to a half-century low, DC still has the highest number of officers per capita of any US city.
Opponents of the bill include the city’s top prosecutor, DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb, who said the bill “will result in more children being locked up pre-trial even when they post no threat to public safety.”
Many community organizations have also come out against the bill, with Black Lives Matter DC, a group not affiliated with the nationwide organization, saying that it fails to address the causes of crime in the city.
“This violence is cyclical. You can almost predict when it will spike, how, and for how long. If you track past reforms, emergency legislation, task forces with federal law enforcement, crime initiatives etc. Increased penalties, pre-trial detention are also cyclical. Same efforts, new names, relaunched with fanfare. Same failure to stop violence over and over. Continuing to do things that don’t stop blood in the streets is insane,” the group said.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said the bill “represents the wrong approach to public safety and the wrong approach to legislating complex public safety issues. A hasty approach to public safety policy hasn’t worked to keep the District safe. It's fed mass incarceration and aided the disruption of communities.”
“This bill requires judges to justify why people should maintain their liberty rather than the government proving why they should be detained. This essentially flips due process on its head – treating people as guilty and detaining them,” the group added.
Amid this monthslong fight over a new crime bill, the city government also moved to reform its existing criminal code by doing away with mandatory minimum sentences for many crimes, reduce maximum sentences for burglary, carjacking and robbery, and expand jury trials for lower-level charges. Mayor Bower had vetoed the bill, but the DC Council voted to override her veto.
In what was widely seen as a snub to the city’s Home Rule, US President Joe Biden sided with Bowser and Republican congressmembers and signed a bill in March blocking the reforms. Biden has previously expressed his support for DC becoming the 51st US state, a step many in the city support. According to Mayor Bowser, statehood would give the city government more control over its autonomy, blocking such actions as the deployment of US National Guard troops from other states in the District without the city government’s approval, such as happened during the George Floyd protests in June 2020.
