The House on Wednesday passed the D.C. CRIMES Act that would give Congress more control over crime oversight in Washington, D.C., ensuring that the city’s leaders enforce tough-on-crime policies.
The legislation, sponsored by Representative Byron Donalds (R., Fla.) seeks to lower D.C.’s youth offender limit from under 25 years old to under 18 and require the D.C. attorney general to create a public website showing juvenile crime statistics. It would also block the D.C. Council from changing criminal-liability sentencing through local legislation. Congress retains authority over D.C., given that it’s not a state.
The D.C. CRIMES Act, or the Criminal Reforms to Immediately Make Everyone Safe Act, passed the House floor with a bipartisan vote of 225–181. Eighteen Democrats joined most Republicans in approving the measure. The bill now heads to the Senate.
Republicans argue that the bill is necessary because it prevents the D.C. Council from enacting soft-on-crime sentencing policies. House Oversight and Accountability Committee chairman James Comer (R., Ky.) praised the bill’s passage, calling it a “common-sense and urgently needed bill.”
“The D.C. CRIMES Act will help rein in crime and lawlessness in Washington to restore law and order in our nation’s capital city,” Comer said in a statement. “All Americans deserve to feel safe in their nation’s capital and thanks to the tireless work of this committee, today’s passage of Rep. Byron Donalds’ bill is a step in the right direction.”
On the other hand, D.C. leaders oppose the bill because, they say, it hinders their ability to reduce crime in the District of Columbia. Mayor Muriel Bowser, Council chairman Phil Mendelson, and Attorney General Brian Schwalb sent a letter to House leadership on Tuesday, arguing that the bill would make it harder for them to strengthen “criminal penalties, or even create new crimes” based on crime trends.
“Swift and certain consequences are essential to deterring crime, and persistent congressional interference is at odds with that goal,” the letter to Congress reads. “Given recent experience, these delays could be extensive, preventing courts from imposing longer sentences while legislation languishes in Congress.”
Bowser, Mendelson, and Schwalb each echoed the letter’s concerns in their own respective statements, claiming their hands would be tied if the D.C. CRIMES Act became law.
Democrats on the federal level also expressed opposition to the crime bill. The Biden administration released a statement of administration policy the day before the bill’s passage, applauding the D.C. Council’s crime-related legislation that Bowser signed into law earlier this year while criticizing the Republican-sponsored measure.
“The D.C. CRIMES Act of 2024 is a counterproductive and destructive invasion of the District’s right to self-governance and would impede public safety and crime reduction,” the White House’s Office of Management and Budget wrote. “This bill highlights why the District of Columbia should have statehood.”
Eleanor Holmes Norton, who serves as a Democratic delegate for the District in the House, urged her colleagues to vote against the D.C. CRIMES Act. “The bill is an egregious violation of D.C. residents’ right to self-governance, and as the Biden Administration rightly states, it highlights why D.C. needs statehood,” she said in a statement ahead of Wednesday’s vote. As a delegate, Norton cannot vote on the final passage of legislation.
In March, D.C. leaders enacted the Secure D.C. public-safety package in order to crack down on overall crime, which increased 26 percent between 2022 and 2023. Last year, the capital saw an 82 percent increase in motor-vehicle thefts, a 67 percent increase in robberies, and, most notably, a 35 percent increase in homicides. With 274 reported homicides, 2023 was the District’s deadliest year since 1997.
In 2024 so far, overall crime has decreased by 16 percent as of May 15 compared to the same time last year. Motor-vehicle theft has dropped 31 percent, robberies by 27 percent, and homicides by 22 percent, according to the latest year-to-date trends published by the Metropolitan Police Department. Only 64 homicides have been reported as of Wednesday, compared with last year’s 82 murders by this point in time.
Despite the crime plummet, D.C. residents aren’t pleased with Mayor Bowser’s crime-reduction efforts. According to an April poll published by the Washington Post on Monday, 72 percent of respondents said the Democratic official is doing a not-so-good or poor job in addressing crime. Bowser’s overall approval rating fell from 58 percent in 2022 to 46 percent last month, marking a historic low in her nine-year career as mayor.