Crime crisis in the nation’s capital due to police-defunding and non-enforcement policies that require change, according to a Manhattan Institute report.
By Eileen Griffin
Rampant lawlessness in the District of Columbia requires a range of responses, a report concludes.
Multiple issues are causing the excessive crime wave plaguing Washington, D.C., a Manhattan Institute study reports.
In 2023, residents of Washington, D.C., experienced a crime wave across multiple categories of offenses. Murders and carjackings have spiked. Shoplifting is rampant. General lawlessness and disorder reign on city streets.
The rising rate of crime is related to the decline of multiple mechanisms of law enforcement and civil order, the report concludes.
Like many other Democrat-run cities, Washington, D.C., joined the defund police movement, leaving citizens unprotected, as Heartland Daily News has reported.
Cities that reduced their police budgets found that law enforcement officers looked for better job opportunities in other locations. After staffing levels were reduced, city personnel managers discovered that it was much more difficult to hire officers than it was to fire officers.
Frustrated district residents are trying to save themselves by organizing a recall against two city council members, Brianne Nadeau and Charles Allen, who have supported alternative policies to law enforcement.
The Recall Nadeau website states that the city council has made the crime situation worse by defunding the police, reduced penalties for violent crime, and eliminating mandatory sentences for repeat offenders.
The Recall Charles Allen website states that he reduced criminal penalties and released youthful offenders under the age of 24 into the streets.
“Charles Allen bragged about reducing the number of police officers on the beat while he denied the remaining officers the equipment that they need to protect themselves and the public,” the website states. “Due to these cuts, there are almost 500 fewer officers in the Metropolitan Police Department today, leaving areas understaffed and unprotected.”
If the recall is not successful, both Brianne Nadeau and Charles Allen remain on the D.C. city council, with their current terms lasting until 2027.
The Manhattan Institute report concludes there is a “capacity” problem in fighting crime. Fewer police officers, fewer resources, less attention are causing a “collapse” of the law enforcement system.
“There are fewer police officers, and those officers are doing less,” writes Charles Fain Lehman, a Manhattan Institute fellow. “The U.S. attorney is prosecuting far fewer people. There are fewer judges, and they are churning through a larger case backlog. Students are more likely to be truant, and as unsheltered homelessness has surged, the District has not kept up with camp clearance.”
Crime is concentrated in specific neighborhoods of the city, with the majority of offenses occurring in just a few locations. Approximately half of all homicides are committed by individuals with gang affiliations. Many are repeat offenders with a criminal history.
Approximately 60 percent to 70 percent of all gun violence can be traced to an identifiable group of residents in the city.
“This claim is consistent with other cities’ research, which routinely finds that violence within a given jurisdiction is highly concentrated within specific, tight social networks,” Lehman writes.
Carjackings are not typically the work of gangs, the report noted, but the violent theft of a motor vehicle is typically due to juvenile criminals.
“Thus, one is left with the impression that DC has a second crime problem: a problem with juvenile offenders, acting out most visibly by stealing cars, joyriding, and broadcasting their activities on social media,” Lehman writes.
While other crimes may not be as serious, they contribute to the overall disorder and feeling of insecurity that residents face. The sense of lawlessness leaves the impression that anyone can become a victim at any time.
“In short, Washington, DC, not only has acute problems with homicide and juvenile car theft,” Lehman writes. “It also has a pervasive, albeit harder-to-measure, problem with disorder, homelessness, (possibly) shoplifting, and fare evasion—that is, petty crime.”
Research shows that more policing reduces crime. D.C. has fewer police officers, fewer staff in the Investigative Services Bureau, and D.C.’s crime lab lost its accreditation from 2021 to 2023, resulting in a bottleneck of criminal investigations.
In addition to the reduction in personnel, those police officers who remain on the job appear to be doing less policing.
Reducing police budgets and eliminating law enforcement tactics sends a message to law enforcement that they are not appreciated, valued, or respected by the city’s political leadership.
Prosecution levels have also dramatically declined in D.C., even for serious crimes. Only about half of felonies and a quarter of misdemeanors were being prosecuted by 2022.
Although the DA’s office blamed a lack of personnel, prosecutors from the D.C. office were assigned to prosecute January 6 rioters, rather than pursuing the backlog of criminal cases.
Judges are also in short supply in D.C. The number of vacancies on the bench further slows the system of justice.
One additional correlation to the rising crime rate is a corresponding increase in school truancy. In D.C., while youth crime is exploding, school attendance is dropping.
“We might posit a causal relationship between these two facts: the increase in crime and disorder is caused by a sudden and sustained reduction in the level of activity meant to contain crime and disorder,” Lehman writes.
Criminals recognize when they are not likely to face consequences. Until each component of the system is provided with the resources, the support, and the proper policies, criminals will run rampant, and lawlessness will prevail.
“The solution, consequently, is to improve the capacity of that system to operate,” Lehman writes. “That means encouraging the people and institutions that operate that system to do more. But it also means giving them more power to do more. Such a ‘capacity view’ should be the starting point of the discussion of crime control in the District.”
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