Thirteen people were murdered in the nation’s capital in the first five days of August. July saw 10 killings in its first five days. Homicide is up 22% this year in Washington compared to last year, and violent crime overall is up 37%.
This is unacceptable, or should be, in any U.S. city but is particularly so in the city that is seen as representative of the country. The Democratic Party’s experiment with alternatives to incarceration has been a disastrous failure, and unless it is abandoned soon, Congress might need to step in with tough policies needed to restore order to the city over which it has ultimate responsibility.
“Crime is out of control and getting worse by the day,” D.C. Councilman Trayon White said. “Kids and innocent people are getting killed. It’s becoming status quo with no end in sight.”
The cause of the crime spree is no mystery to district residents. Criminals are not punished for their crimes. D.C. resident Patrick O’Keefe, who has repeatedly complained to police about open-air drug dealing, loud music, and illegal parking in his neighborhood, explained, “They won’t even stop for a day, even with a dozen cops here, because they know nothing will happen to them. We’re not asking the police to come up with a miracle solution. They just need to enforce the laws as written.”
The problem is not that police won’t arrest those who break the law. It is that those arrested are rarely prosecuted, and even when they are, they are quickly released back onto the streets before trial. At a Chinatown community meeting last week, one employer complained that after an employee was assaulted in broad daylight, the criminal arrested for the assault was released “shortly thereafter.”
Read more at Washingtonexaminer.com
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