Lax DC criminal code advances after council overrides Mayor Bowser’s veto
Julia Johnson
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The D.C. Council voted to override Mayor Muriel Bowser’s (D) veto of the criminal code overhaul on Tuesday.
In a 12-1 vote, with Councilman Trayon White as the only “no,” the veto was overridden. The Revised Criminal Code Act, however, will not go into effect until October 2025.
“I am frustrated. This veto should not have happened,” Councilman Charles Allen (D) said. “A veto is a defense of the status quo, and I am grateful this council is forward-looking.”
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The overhauled code would eliminate most mandatory minimum sentences, allow for jury trials for almost all misdemeanors, and minimize the maximum penalties for burglaries, carjackings, and robberies, among other offenses. The new code proposal has been 16 years in the making and was unanimously approved by the council in November.
Notably, the code hasn’t been overhauled in more than 100 years.
It was ultimately vetoed by Bowser in early January. The mayor claimed the bill “does not make us safer” at the time.
On Tuesday, council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) slammed Bowser’s remark as “irresponsible rhetoric, and it plays into folks like the Freedom Caucus in Congress who are going to use the mayor’s veto and her rhetoric against us.”
Next, the measure heads to Congress for a 60-day review, where it may face opposition from the newly Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
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As the council moves to weaken penalties in the district, the city has already posted a spike in crime in just the first two weeks of 2023. Motor vehicle thefts, specifically, are up 89% compared to this time in 2022. All crime is up 38% compared to the beginning of 2022. Some predict that the new criminal code would worsen this problem.
The Washington Examiner’s editorial board wrote on Tuesday that the proposed code would lead to a larger rise in violent crime. It further suggested that the council “should step back immediately from the brink of this ideological folly.”