Washington D.C. Council votes to “reduce the maximum penalties for offenses such as burglaries, carjackings and robberies”

By Daniel Alman (aka Dan from Squirrel Hill)

January 17, 2023

Those aren’t my words. Those are the words of the Washington Post, which just reported:

The D.C. Council on Tuesday voted to override Mayor Muriel E. Bowser’s (D) veto of a major overhaul of the city’s criminal code, which city lawmakers had unanimously approved in November despite concerns from court and law enforcement leaders.

The bill would, 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.

Every city gets exactly as much crime as it’s willing to tolerate. And apparently, the voters of Washington D.C. are willing to tolerate a lot of it.