DC criminal code overhaul is ghastly

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate that Charles Allen is trying to rush this through before the House flips to the Republicans. The first vote is on Friday afternoon.

I also feel like the public has zero idea of what is actually in this bill. There is no summary. The hearings have not been well publicized.

Very, very shady.

Oh good, another progressive tidbit to sour independents and moderates right before midterms

Except it doesn’t impact DC voters. Our choices are always progressive or progressiver.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For all the republicans bashing on this forum (of which most is well deserved), why are Democrats so stupid? Do they want us to lose to the republicans? It seems that we are handing them a fat W with all this insanely progressive BS that most of us don’t want.

It's about power. Many progressive politicians are capitalizing on the movement to be seen as anti-racist, gender inclusive, etc. But they are doing it to further their own careers, rather than to truly help the people they talk about.

And we feel good about that. It feels much better to vote for the antiracist than the anti-everything on the right. We are all on the correct side of history, right?

Except they make everything worse with rapid and horrific policy. Rather than sit down with experts, and methodically work through the nuts and bolts of good changes. Good change takes longer, but nobody has the patience for that anymore.

This. Same with education policy reform as well.

[Anonymous]

It would be awesome if our local media actually covered this stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For all the republicans bashing on this forum (of which most is well deserved), why are Democrats so stupid? Do they want us to lose to the republicans? It seems that we are handing them a fat W with all this insanely progressive BS that most of us don’t want.

It's about power. Many progressive politicians are capitalizing on the movement to be seen as anti-racist, gender inclusive, etc. But they are doing it to further their own careers, rather than to truly help the people they talk about.

And we feel good about that. It feels much better to vote for the antiracist than the anti-everything on the right. We are all on the correct side of history, right?

Except they make everything worse with rapid and horrific policy. Rather than sit down with experts, and methodically work through the nuts and bolts of good changes. Good change takes longer, but nobody has the patience for that anymore.

This. Same with education policy reform as well.

Honestly, what’s the use. What is the use getting upset. This is what the city voters want.

DC is made up of poor voters in ward 7 and 8. Then some rich idealistic urbanites in row homes in ward 6 (also a mix of poor voters there) . The you’ve got your richer folks up in NW. I guess there are pockets of haves and have nots all over the city. The fact is what you won’t find here is enough conservative voters to sway any local elections. None. No one have the backbone anymore to just call for tough on crime policy. It’s too third rail in this era of attributing all ills to the police and decrying jail as an inhumane punishment. I wonder if it’ll get bad enough in 10 years where maybe the pendulum will swing the other way, but I’m not hopeful. For now, and because of this policy, we’ll see more teens beating up ladies on busses or car jackings at gas stations, more atv riding on U street without consequence, more erosion of quality of life. I guess the voters just feel you can’t make an omelette without cracking some eggs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate that Charles Allen is trying to rush this through before the House flips to the Republicans. The first vote is on Friday afternoon.

I also feel like the public has zero idea of what is actually in this bill. There is no summary. The hearings have not been well publicized.

Very, very shady.

Oh good, another progressive tidbit to sour independents and moderates right before midterms

This is what happened when we elect ideologues to the city council. Could start cleaning house by dumping Elissa Silverman. No one is more ideologue-y than her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It would be awesome if our local media actually covered this stuff.

The OP’s link is from WTOP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be awesome if our local media actually covered this stuff.

The OP’s link is from WTOP.

Sure, but that WTOP story is mostly just a series of quotes from Charles Allen. Where is the Washington Post? Crime is a huge issue right now in the District and our elected representatives want to make life easier for criminals?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Trial by jury is in the constitution.

Not for misdemeanors. Not the worst idea, but it needs to be separated out from the rest of the legislation and then phased in over a period of years to allow for the courts to build up their capacity with more judges more personnel and a bigger jury pool to allow for additional jury trials.

"In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence."


Please point to the misdemeanor exception. The Supreme Court has read in exceptions, but there are none in the language of the constitution itself

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be awesome if our local media actually covered this stuff.

The OP’s link is from WTOP.

Sure, but that WTOP story is mostly just a series of quotes from Charles Allen. Where is the Washington Post? Crime is a huge issue right now in the District and our elected representatives want to make life easier for criminals?

Google search took 5 seconds:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/10/dc-violent-crime-solutions/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/08/dc-general-election-crime-forum/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be awesome if our local media actually covered this stuff.

The OP’s link is from WTOP.

Sure, but that WTOP story is mostly just a series of quotes from Charles Allen. Where is the Washington Post? Crime is a huge issue right now in the District and our elected representatives want to make life easier for criminals?

Google search took 5 seconds:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/10/dc-violent-crime-solutions/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/08/dc-general-election-crime-forum/

Yeah, you didnt find much in those five seconds. One of these is an editorial. The other is what a bunch of people said at a candidate forum. It would be nice if someone wrote something on the substance of what Charles Allen is proposing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look, I get that aspects of the criminal code need overhaul, but the geniuses running the city council now want to modify the code so that anyone charged with potential for jail time will be able to demand a trial by jury. This should send shivers down the spine of each and everyone law abiding citizen in DC. We all know what will predictably happen, which is that any criminal committing any offense will just demand a trial because courts will be backed up for years. They will let criminals go with absolute zero punishment. All misdemeanors will now require trial by jury, which is patently absurd.

https://wtop.com/dc/2022/10/overhaul-of-dcs-120-year-old-mess-of-criminal-laws-presented-to-council/

The issue is so worrisome that even the DoJ has explicitly warned that the DC council's ideas threaten public safety and undermine the distribution of justice:

https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/us-attorneys-offices-statement-dc-criminal-code-reform

To put this in perspective, look at this woman in CA who survived a horrific rape at hands of a criminal who only hours earlier had been let go by cops because no one would likely prosecute him since it required a jury trial.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/10/19/torrance-woman-recounts-harrowing-rape-by-alleged-attacker-hours-after-his-release-from-jail/

CA is exactly what will happen in DC, as the article mentions:

As of March 2017, which are the most recent statistics available, less than 1% of pretrial county jail inmates were there for misdemeanor crimes, Siddall said.

The DC council is basically telling criminals out there that all crime is not going to be punished unless it is flatout murder. Absolutely preposterous.

Not surprising. The city council cribs a lot of its ideas from San Francisco.

[Anonymous]

Any person facing potential jail time SHOULD be able to demand a jury trial.

This proposed law is not the problem; putting people in jail for up to a year for minor offenses is the real problem.

The US incarcerates a higher percentage of its population than any other country in the world.

Jailing people for minor offenses is expensive to taxpayers and dangerous for the individuals placed in jail or prison.

Poor people go to jail for misdemeanors. This is wrong & unfair. We need better ways to handle minor offenses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any person facing potential jail time SHOULD be able to demand a jury trial.

This proposed law is not the problem; putting people in jail for up to a year for minor offenses is the real problem.

The US incarcerates a higher percentage of its population than any other country in the world.

Jailing people for minor offenses is expensive to taxpayers and dangerous for the individuals placed in jail or prison.

Poor people go to jail for misdemeanors. This is wrong & unfair. We need better ways to handle minor offenses.

Those poor, poor criminals. Won't someone stop to think about the criminals? You guys get so obsessed with the old woman they beat down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any person facing potential jail time SHOULD be able to demand a jury trial.

This proposed law is not the problem; putting people in jail for up to a year for minor offenses is the real problem.

The US incarcerates a higher percentage of its population than any other country in the world.

Jailing people for minor offenses is expensive to taxpayers and dangerous for the individuals placed in jail or prison.

Poor people go to jail for misdemeanors. This is wrong & unfair. We need better ways to handle minor offenses.

So the only possible alternative is simply not to prosecute or enforce those laws?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate that Charles Allen is trying to rush this through before the House flips to the Republicans. The first vote is on Friday afternoon.

I also feel like the public has zero idea of what is actually in this bill. There is no summary. The hearings have not been well publicized.

Very, very shady.

Oh good, another progressive tidbit to sour independents and moderates right before midterms

Except it doesn’t impact DC voters. Our choices are always progressive or progressiver.

DC is visible in the national media so it gets picked up and sold as Democrats (every politician in DC) being not just soft on crime but basically turning the other cheek to even violent crimes like car jacking.