DC’s crime epidemic is entirely self-inflicted
Zachary Faria
Video Embed
Washington, D.C., is continuing to offer proof that “criminal justice reform” invites more violence from criminals, costing civilians their cars and their lives at unprecedented levels.
Washington has had more than 900 reported carjackings this year, with just about 160 arrests. About 77% of those carjackings involve a gun, and yet the U.S. Attorney’s Office is prosecuting gun crimes at an apparent record low. The city has a crime of “Possessing a Firearm During a Crime of Violence,” which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years.
DESANTIS VS. NEWSOM IS THE DEBATE WE SHOULD BE HAVING
Despite a near 100% increase in gun crime in the city compared to pre-pandemic levels, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has facilitated a 77% decrease in convictions for that crime from 2014 to 2022. The average sentence for weapons crimes in Washington, D.C., is at the lowest it has been this decade, coinciding with the massive drop in convictions and weapons sentences for possessing a firearm during a crime of violence.
Of course, when criminals are emboldened to commit brazen armed carjackings, they are emboldened to do things that are far worse. Washington, D.C., recently surpassed 250 murders on the year, the most in one year since the 278 murders the city saw in 2002, with 33 days left to go. Murders are up 34% compared to last year.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
It would shock you to know that Washington, D.C., just last year tried to remove almost all mandatory minimum sentences in its criminal code, which included softening the sentences for carjackings and murders. It was Congress that had to step in and stop the effort by city leadership to give criminals free rein in the city just earlier this year in March. In a surprise to absolutely no one, a city that runs itself under the assumption that criminals should face almost no consequences for their crimes is now overwhelmed by violent crime and repeat criminals.
The desperate effort by city leaders to rein in violent crime now is too little, too late for the victims who have been permanently traumatized or killed while living in the previously imagined criminal justice reform paradise. These were, and still are, completely avoidable failures. Washington leaders brought this violence on their residents, and their attempts to clean it up are either an insincere effort to save face or an admission that they were gullible fools who empowered criminals with policies for which everyone but they could foresee the consequences.