D.C. Council Passes Overhaul of Criminal Code

The D.C. Council voted unanimously to pass the slate of reforms recommended by the Council’s Criminal Code Reform Commission (CCRC). The bill, if passed by Mayor Muriel Bowser, must go to Congress for sixty days, in which it has the authority to disapprove of the Act. If the reforms are passed by Mayor Bowser and are accepted by Congress, it will be the first major revision of the District’s criminal codes since 1901 [1].

What is in the Bill?

The bill most notably includes provisions that would eliminate minimum and maximum sentencing requirements for certain crimes and the right to a jury trial for misdemeanor crimes. Overall, the bill seeks to update the language and categorizations of D.C.’s criminal laws after decades of resisting reform. According to the CCRC, “The RCCA [Revised Criminal Code Act] provides for greater predictability, transparency, proportionality, and fairness in District criminal laws” [1].

Responses to the Bill

The Bill is not flawless, as many of its advocates have even stated. Mayor Bowser has not yet declared her intentions on whether or not she will approve the bill, but she has been critical of certain parts of the bill, such as a proposed gun amendment that was ultimately rejected by the council [2].

Prior to the Council’s passage of the Bill, the Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia released a statement regarding some of their criticisms of the bill, including provisions that “could undermine community safety and impede the administration of justice” [3]. However, ultimately, the U.S. Attorney for D.C. supports the bill, citing that “the D.C. Criminal Code is in dire need of an update, and there is much in this bill that would help” [4].