Congress acted on youth crime in the nation’s capital on Tuesday, passing legislation to change how youth are prosecuted in the district.
The effort is part of President Donald Trump’s attempt to crack down on crime in Washington.
Two bills passed with at least some bipartisan support — the D.C. Crimes Act and the D.C. Juvenile Sentencing Reform Act. The first bill lowered the age of a youth offender in D.C. from 24 to 18 and required criminal sentencing be at least as long as the mandatory minimums for adults.
The D.C. Crimes Act passed with some Democratic support, 240-179. Thirty Democrats joined Republicans in voting for the bill. The D.C. Juvenile Sentencing Reform Act passed with slimmer support, 225-203.
That act lowered the age at which children who are accused of certain violent crimes can be tried as adults from 16 to 14. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) opposed both bills but was especially critical of the latter legislation. He said the administration wants to prosecute 14-year-olds but not adults who sexually abuse children that age.
“Let me get this straight: Congress wants to prosecute 14 yr. olds as adults, but they don’t want to prosecute adults who sexually abuse 14 year olds? Release the Epstein files,” he wrote on X.
Washington has been criticized for its levels of youth crime in the past. The district saw its youth record more than 550 violent crimes in 2024.
Washington’s only voice in Congress criticized the bills for encroaching on the district’s governance.
“The over 700,000 D.C. residents, the majority of whom are black and brown, are capable and worthy of governing themselves,” Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) said on the House floor.
Ankit Jain, Washington’s shadow senator, said Senate Democrats will have to be convinced to vote against the bills. “We will be working aggressively to talk to Senate Democrats and make the case to them why they should vote no on these bills,” he said.
“If this succeeds, then Republicans will see that this strategy works, that they can go after a lot of the laws in blue cities and unite their party and divide the Democratic Party,” he added.
The National Guard remains deployed in the district after Mayor Muriel Bowser signed an executive order coordinating cooperation between local police and federal forces through the end of November.
The House Oversight Committee will question senior officials from the district, including Bowser, on Thursday. The chairman of the committee, Rep. James Comer (R-KY), said the bills passed Tuesday are a solution to “D.C.’s soft-on-crime policies.”
Comer said local policy had “failed to keep D.C. residents and visitors safe.”