House passes bills cracking down on D.C. juveniles

House lawmakers passed two bills Tuesday targeting juvenile criminals and the Senate Republicans introduced their own proposal to strengthen punishments against young offenders as Congress asserted its influence over the District’s public safety ecosystem.

Bipartisan support helped pass the two measures — one allowing children as young as 14 to be charged as adults, and the other barring judges from being more lenient when sentencing to juveniles.

Rep. James Comer, Kentucky Republican, referred to them as “common sense reforms” to the District’s criminal code.

“It is clear to members of the committee and the public that D.C.’s soft on crime policies have failed to keep D.C. residents and visitors safe,” he said from the House floor.

A 240-179 margin, including 31 Democrats, voted in favor of the D.C. Criminal Reforms to Immediately Make Everyone Safe Act, or DC CRIMES Act.

The proposal says those between the ages of 19-24 can no longer be given the same kind of light sentences that youths 18 and under can receive.

The legislation also would halt a policy that allows young convicts to be sentenced below mandatory minimums; bar the D.C. Council from altering sentencing laws; and task the D.C. Attorney General with maintaining a public database on juvenile crime.

The focus on young offenders came to a head in 2023 when juveniles were a driving force in the scourge of carjackings terrorizing the city.

That same year was when the District experienced a generational crime wave featuring the highest annual homicide total since the late 1990s and rampant muggings, though crime statistics have fallen sharply since then.

“Our great nation’s capital has been played by violence, destruction, disorder for far too long, and decades of weak pro crime leadership has turned this once great city into a dystopia,” said Rep. Byron Donalds, the Florida Republican who is the bill’s chief sponsor.

But Rep. Robert Garcia, California Democrat, slammed Mr. Donalds’ bill for eliminating policies in the District that have been in place in his home state of Florida.

We believe in investing in solutions that actually make people safer, not political stunts or short term gimmicks or cheap tough talk,” Mr. Garcia said.

H.R. 5140, the bill proposing to lower the age juveniles can be tried as adults to 14, passed by a slimmer 225-203.

Current law permits the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of Columbia to charge 16-year-olds as adults, and typically only for a handful of the most serious violent crimes.

The legislative crackdown on juveniles continued apace Tuesday in the Senate, with a group of Republicans proposing to repeal two D.C. laws that allow inmates sentenced for violent crimes to seek early release if they committed their felonies before they were 25 years old.

Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said he sponsored the Just Incarceration of Criminal Elements in D.C. Act because city laws have “incentivized crime” by offering excessive leniency due to the “mindless policies of D.C.’s progressive city council.”

“The JUSTICE in D.C. Act puts common sense back at the forefront of D.C.’s justice system by ensuring no offender receives a shortened sentence just because they committed a crime — including murder — before the age of 25,” Mr. Cornyn said in a statement.

“U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro has called for these ridiculous laws to be eliminated, and I couldn’t agree more,” he said.

The JUSTICE in D.C. Act and a similar bill in the House are aimed to repeal the District’s Incarceration Reduction Amendment Act and the Second Look Amendment Act. The Senate legislation also would redirect to crime victims the funds from a grant program for inmates who are released early.

The Washington Times has reached out to D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, at large Democrat, for comment.

The Incarceration Reduction Amendment Act and the Second Look Amendment Act took effect in the past decade, offering leniency to young offenders who spend their adult life behind bars. About 80% of those who petition under the Second Look Amendment Act receive sentencing relief, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

The Office of the D.C. Attorney General has said more than 90% of felons who have been released under the Incarceration Reduction Amendment Act since 2017 have not been charged with a new crime.

But former U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves argued that the leniency laws have effectively turned hefty, proportionate sentences for violent crimes into 15-year maximum penalties.

The proposals follow the conclusion of President Trump’s month-long crime emergency in the District that saw federal law enforcement and the thousands of National Guard troops patrolling the streets.

Mr. Trump’s 30-day surge did produce a 40% year-over-year drop in violent crime, with killings cut in half, robberies down nearly 60% and carjackings down more than 70% in the same time frame.

But D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, and the entire D.C. Council, which is almost completely controlled by Democrats, argued the surge was excessive given dramatic declines in crime since the 2023 spike.

On Wednesday, the House will vote on two more D.C.-focused bills — one that relaxes police pursuit restrictions on Metropolitan Police, and the other that limits the District’s role in choosing local judges.

The mayor and Mr. Mendelson, along with D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, will testify Thursday in front of the House Oversight Committee.