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Editorial: These 8 proposals from Bowser would help D.C. fight violent crime
Washington PostA 10-year-old girl, Arianna Davis, clung to life for three days before dying of wounds she suffered from a barrage of indiscriminate gunfire while riding in the backseat of her parents’ car, alongside her siblings, on Mother’s Day. Police don’t believe anyone in the vehicle was being targeted. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The shooters got away.
This is what the crime crisis looks like in every quadrant of the capital city: At 4 a.m. on Monday, a stray bullet hit a 12-year-old girl in the leg as she slept in her Southeast apartment. Around 4 p.m., a 64-year-old man was fatally shot outside a 7-Eleven. A few hours later, a 19-year-old man was killed in Shipley. On Tuesday, a 35-year-old woman was killed in Columbia Heights. On Wednesday, a 17-year-old boy was fatally shot in the parking lot of Roosevelt High School in Northwest.
More than 200 people were killed in 2021, and again in 2022, for the first time since 2003. As of May 18, the District has already endured 84 homicides this year. Sexual abuse is up 44 percent compared with last year. Robbery is up 20 percent, and motor vehicle theft is up 115 percent.
The calamity demands an urgent response. Fortunately, Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) proposed thoughtful legislation this week to close a handful of gaps and loopholes in the criminal justice system. Her modest recommendations give police, prosecutors and judges the tools — and the discretion — they need to get, and keep, more violent criminals off the streets. The D.C. Council should not break for summer recess until giving serious consideration to these eight sensible ideas:
This is what the crime crisis looks like in every quadrant of the capital city: At 4 a.m. on Monday, a stray bullet hit a 12-year-old girl in the leg as she slept in her Southeast apartment. Around 4 p.m., a 64-year-old man was fatally shot outside a 7-Eleven. A few hours later, a 19-year-old man was killed in Shipley. On Tuesday, a 35-year-old woman was killed in Columbia Heights. On Wednesday, a 17-year-old boy was fatally shot in the parking lot of Roosevelt High School in Northwest.
More than 200 people were killed in 2021, and again in 2022, for the first time since 2003. As of May 18, the District has already endured 84 homicides this year. Sexual abuse is up 44 percent compared with last year. Robbery is up 20 percent, and motor vehicle theft is up 115 percent.
The calamity demands an urgent response. Fortunately, Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) proposed thoughtful legislation this week to close a handful of gaps and loopholes in the criminal justice system. Her modest recommendations give police, prosecutors and judges the tools — and the discretion — they need to get, and keep, more violent criminals off the streets. The D.C. Council should not break for summer recess until giving serious consideration to these eight sensible ideas: