Reply to DC criminal code overhaul is ghastly

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]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:

[quote]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.[/quote]

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.  [/quote]

The OP is full of misrepresentations and lies

1. The DOJ statement (which is from the DC USAO, meaning the DC prosecutors who would be most impacted by this) says that they support it.  While they mention some general concerns with certain aspects of it, they don't call out the jury trial issue at all

2. The article you linked to doesn't say anything about a jury trial being the reason not to prosecute. It's a horrible case, but they let the rapist out on bail after he was charged with a misdemeanor (possession of a knife).

3. As the article itself notes, people are almost never held in custody for a misdemeanor, regardless of any right to a jury trial.  That has always been the case regardless of any right to a jury.  The 1% number is totally unrelated to the jury issue[/quote]

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