For the last 16 years, the Washington, D.C., city council has wrestled with rewriting and reforming the city’s criminal code. Its labors have produced a 450-page Gargantua that will, 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.
So the bill will make the city less safe and burden the court system even more with superfluous jury trials.
Police Chief Robert J. Contee III was dubious.
“Does this enhance public safety, and does it make communities safer?” Contee asked at a recent news conference. “The things that we disagree on, I think that communities should be informed about what those things are. Council members should really understand what we’re signing off on here.”
Public safety committee chair Charles Allen says the overhaul is necessary. It will make the justice system more “equitable” and less reliant on incarceration.
“It’s outdated, it’s contradictory, it’s a mess, and after a 16-year-long process, we now have a revised criminal code in front of us,” Allen said.
Allen said in an interview that the council worked closely with police to tweak language in the bill having to do with public nuisances, such as public urination and carrying open containers of alcohol. The revised criminal code would make such conduct a crime, but without jail time.
Mendelson addressed some of the criticisms of the bill at a news conference Monday, saying some claims about it were “wild misunderstandings.”
“I’m comfortable that there is no one out there committing a crime today who could do the same thing tomorrow and not be arrested for it,” Mendelson said.
No one is too worried about whether or not someone who commits a carjacking will be arrested. The worrisome part of this “reform” is how long — if at all — a dangerous criminal will be incarcerated so they can’t harm anyone else.
Graves said in a statement sent to members of the council that he was concerned over the proposed reform lowering the statutory maximum penalties for offenses such as burglaries, carjackings and robberies.
“We are concerned that the significant reduction in certain maximum penalties for serious violent crimes prevents courts from imposing penalties that appropriately reflect the seriousness of the offense and the defendant’s criminal history,” Graves said.
This idea that “rehabilitation” is a process that actually works is incredibly dangerous and stupid. Very, very few violent criminals are rehabilitated to the point that society can be assured that they won’t engage in recidivist behavior and commit a violent crime again. These anti-social criminals are experts at gaming the system and taking advantage of well-meaning counselors and psychologists who determine who is “rehabilitated” and who isn’t.
Modern correctional systems use performance metrics to determine who is a good candidate for release. These arbitrary and subjective metrics are designed by activists who believe there are too many people being incarcerated. The goal is to release as many felons as possible and keep as many criminals who commit crimes out of prison altogether.
It shouldn’t surprise us that the Washington city council is following their lead.
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