D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is proposing legislation that would undo some controversial aspects of the criminal code overhaul recently passed by the D.C. Council. The move comes as House Republicans are expected to strike down the new bill.
Bowser and the D.C. Council have sparred over certain changes to the criminal code, which would eliminate most mandatory minimum sentences, reduce mandatory maximum penalties and allow jury trials for misdemeanors.
In January, the Council approved overriding Bowser's veto of the new criminal code.
But, as with all D.C. laws, it is subject to a congressional review period. House Republicans are expected to move Tuesday to block the new criminal code from becoming law. If Congress does nothing, the bill can go into effect.
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As the congressional vote looms, Bowser announced Monday she will introduce legislation to change some parts of the criminal code overhaul she believes would hurt public safety.
"We're experiencing more robberies and carjackings and people using guns, and I think the message of accountability for those crimes has to be abundantly clear," Bowser said Monday.
Bowser's legislation takes aim at key parts of the more than 400-page criminal code. If approved, her legislation would do the following:
- Restore tougher penalties for gun crimes and carjackings
- Delay the bill's implementation from 2025 until 2027
- Delete the expansion of jury trials for some defendants
- Delete the expansion of the Second Look Act, which currently allows convicted felons under 25 to have their sentences reconsidered after they have served a portion of their sentence
"Victims of crime deserve opportunities to weigh in on expanding eligibility for the Second Look Act from youthful, convicted violent offenders to all violent offenders of all ages," Bowser said.
Council Chairman Phil Mendelson would not say Monday whether he would support Bowser's changes.
"I want to stay away from the substance of the amendments the mayor's proposing because they're not relevant to what the Republicans are going to do this week," Mendelson said.
Bowser and the Council both have said that Congress should not have a say in D.C.'s laws.
"I have spoken at length about the Congress staying out of the District's affairs," Bowser said.
"I'm reasonably certain that no member of The House of Representatives of the United States of America has read the bill. And they don’t know what's in that bill, and so all we're getting is really political rhetoric as a run up to the 2024 election," Mendelson said.
D.C.’s criminal code hasn’t been overhauled in more than 100 years, and after 16 years of studies and proposals, the Council unanimously approved the new criminal code in November.
