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January 17, 2023
DC Council overrides DC mayor's veto of significant criminal justice reform bill
As reported in this new Washington Post piece, the "D.C. Council on Tuesday voted to override Mayor Muriel E. Bowser’s (D) veto of a major overhaul of the city’s criminal code, which city lawmakers had unanimously approved in November despite concerns from court and law enforcement leaders." Here is more from the press report:
Lawmakers voted 12-1 to override Bowser’s veto of the bill, with Trayon White Sr. (D-Ward 8) breaking from the rest of the council. Council member Charles Allen (D-Ward 6), who chaired the public safety committee when the legislation passed, said lawmakers “stand at the finish line of a 16-year process that would make significant improvements and modernize an outdated criminal code from another era.”...
The bill would, among other things, eliminate most mandatory minimum sentences, allow for jury trials in almost all misdemeanor cases, and reduce the maximum penalties for offenses such as burglaries, carjackings and robberies. Law enforcement leaders had expressed concern that it could burden an already stretched court system and would send the wrong message to residents at a time when the city is struggling with gun violence.
“This bill does not make us safer,” Bowser wrote in a letter to Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D), announcing her veto. Lawmakers shot back Tuesday that the bill was a necessary reform of the city’s outdated criminal code, and they took direct aim at the mayor’s criticism, which they said could be used as fodder for members of Congress who can block city legislation. Republicans in the House have already threatened to target the measure. But resolutions disapproving D.C. legislation must pass both chambers and be signed by the president. Democrats have a narrow majority in the Senate....
Allen, who chaired the public safety committee when the bill was passed, and Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2), the new public safety chair, said in a joint statement beforehand that the criminal code was “more equitable and just” but that they were open to consideration of further amendments before it was fully implemented. Officials who support the code revisions have stressed the law would not take effect for three years to give police, courts and other groups time to prepare. “There is simply too much good in this bill to abandon all of that work, and without any backup plan from the mayor,” Pinto said Tuesday.
Council member Brianne K. Nadeau (D- Ward 1) called the mayor’s veto a “distraction,” given that the council would override it. “This is political theater to create a perpetual scapegoat whenever there are issues in the future,” Nadeau said. “Do not believe the hype. The council is not tying the hands of our law enforcement officials or making crime worse.”...
Bowser wrote in her letter to Mendelson that while there was “consensus agreement” on 95 percent of the bill, she opposed particular provisions lowering maximum sentences and allowing for more jury trials. She said the bill would weaken “already lenient sentencing for gun possession” by reducing the maximum penalties for carrying a pistol without a license and being a felon in possession of a gun.
Gregg Pemberton, chairman of the D.C. Police Union, said in a statement that the law, once enacted, would lead to “violent crime rates exploding more than they already have.” “Every resident should be outraged that the Council has weakened the criminal justice system in a way that makes every neighborhood less safe,” Pemberton said. “Their actions today are shameful.”
Supporters of the bill have countered the reduction in maximum penalties are in line with what judges are actually imposing. “This isn’t some huge, mass decarceration measure,” said Patrice Sulton, founder and executive director of the D.C. Justice Lab. “It’s making the code clear, consistent, and constitutionally sound.”
January 17, 2023 at 04:06 PM | Permalink
Comments
Interesting. As a practitioner in another field of law that gets revisited and heavily revised every decade or so, with an entirely new statute every century or so, I find it fascinating that penal codes don't receive such wholesale scrutiny and revision.
Good for DC.
Posted by: Fat Bastard | Jan 17, 2023 11:23:42 PM
There's a reason that such a huge number of families that can afford to move out of DC.
Posted by: Bill Otis | Jan 18, 2023 3:01:49 AM
Some of those people on the council need to be carjacked. At least live in the rough part of town and see people getting pulled out of their cars at gunpoint.
Posted by: TarlsQtr | Jan 19, 2023 11:09:28 AM
You stooges automatically assume that the new penal code is more lenient. Maybe it is maybe it isn't. Maybe leniency is the right thing to do, maybe it isn't.
Regardless, I applaud them for trying something new or different.
Because all we've got right now is a pretty fair amount of crime and the worlds highest incarcertion rate, gross or per capita. Bravo, let's keep making new crimes and increasing sentences, it has worked so well so far.
Posted by: Fat Bastard | Jan 24, 2023 11:54:22 PM