House Republicans eye crackdown on disturbing youth crime spike in nation’s capital

FIRST ON FOX: Rep. Byron Donalds, a Florida Republican, is leading the charge to overhaul Washington, D.C.’s criminal policies in a bid to crack down on the troubling rise in incidents perpetrated by the city’s youth.

His new bill, the D.C. Criminal Reform to Immediately Make Everyone Safer (D.C. CRIMES) Act, would impose specific changes targeting how juveniles and young adults are prosecuted.

If passed, it would lower the age classifying “youths” from under 25 to under 18. The classification gives D.C. courts more flexibility in issuing sentences for crimes committed.

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Rep. Byron Donalds is leading House Republicans’ latest push to impose congressional authority on Washington, D.C. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

It would also prevent the courts from handing down sentences under the minimum statutory requirements for youth offenders, and stop D.C.’s progressive city council from changing what those requirements are.

The bill would also require the D.C. attorney general to keep the public better informed on youth and juvenile crime rates by creating a public website where statistics are readily available. 

According to a year-to-date crime comparison provided by the Metropolitan Police Department, homicides in the nation’s capital rose 35% from 2022 to 2023, with the overall rate of violent crime climbing 39%. Robberies increased by 67%, while instances of motor vehicle theft have climbed 82%.

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Local D.C. officials like Mayor Muriel Bowser have traded barbs over who’s to blame for the crime spike. (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

D.C. District At-large Councilmember Robert White Jr., a Democrat, said during a virtual town hall last month, according to The Hilltop, “The number of crimes committed by youth has risen substantially and the severity of crimes committed by youth has become alarming.”

D.C. officials have pointed fingers at one another over the dangerous trend, with Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser blaming the D.C. attorney general and city council for weakening criminal policies while also not enforcing existing mandates.

Donalds’ bill is also not the first time since the beginning of 2023 that Congress has stepped in to exercise its authority over the capital to crack down on crime.

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Congress stepped in last year to block a D.C. city council crime bill. (Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

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Last March, both the House and Senate passed a GOP-led resolution overturning the city council’s proposed overhaul of the D.C. criminal code that would have drastically reduced minimum sentences for armed carjackings and expanded the right to jury trials, which critics say would have caused unnecessary delays.

The city council is now considering a much stricter package of bills aimed at curbing rising crime rates. That proposal includes expanding pretrial detention for suspects accused of violent crimes, creating new firearm-related charges, and giving police more leeway to engage in vehicular pursuits.