What to Know
- D.C. Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice Lindsey Appiah told the House Oversight Committee there is a crime "crisis" in the nation's capital
- House Republicans have vowed to intervene more in D.C.'s local affairs in recent months and have criticized city leaders over rising crime
- Victims of crime also spoke during the hearing
Republican lawmakers took aim at D.C. crime again Thursday during a hearing in which they listened to testimony from crime victims and the city's deputy mayor for public safety.
D.C. Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice Lindsey Appiah testified under oath before a House Judiciary subcommittee that violent crime in D.C. has become a "crisis."
"Oxford defines a crisis as a time of intense difficulty, trouble or danger. So I would say that we find ourselves in an intense time of trouble or danger, so I would say there is a crisis," Appiah told members of Congress.
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Back in March, D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson told another congressional committee, "There is not a crime crisis in Washington, D.C."
The Republican-led hearing focused on holding convicted felons more accountable, with many pointing the blame toward the D.C. Council, D.C. Superior Court judges and the District's top prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves.
"Crime is out of control and everybody knows it. More importantly, everybody knows why. When you defund the police and you have prosecutors who go soft on crime, you get more crime," Rep. Jim Jordan said.
Gaynor Jablonski, who owns a pub in D.C., testified before the committee about how a man attacked him inside his business in front of his son earlier this year. Congress members watched video of the attack during the hearing.
"As horrific as that video is, what happened after was even worse," Jablonski said. "He gets eight months and I'm left explaining to my 5-year-old that, why I had to fight this man, and my 5-year-old tells me when I drop him off at school every day to be safe."
"If nobody's going to do their job and prosecute, and hold people accountable, what's the point?" Jablonski said.
The D.C. Council approved three emergency crime bills in July, including legislation to make it easier for judges to hold adults and juveniles charged with violent crimes until their trial.
In May, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser testified before the House Oversight Committee. She told the hearing that D.C. needed more prosecutors.
Bowser also called on Congress to reform federal gun laws, fund local infrastructure projects and push federal workers to return to offices downtown.
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