President Joe Biden has joined Republicans and moderate Democrats in criticising local leaders in Washington, DC for attempting to amend a 100-year-old criminal code that is showing its age.
Progressive Democrats are outraged by the message this sends about criminal justice reform, and some DC residents feel betrayed by the president who lives right next door.
Nevertheless, while the headline version of this story fits perfectly into the GOP political narrative that American cities are crime-ridden and decaying, it is incomplete.
Except for Biden’s betrayal of DC people seeking self-government. It is difficult to argue with.
The key points are as follows:
The criminal code requires revision.
For years, DC’s municipal government has attempted to reform its ancient criminal code, much of which was written before anyone alive today was born.
I recommend reading this story by DCist’s Martin Austermuhle for more on how archaic and weird some of DC’s criminal statutes sound today. He mentions restrictions concerning outdated stickball games practised in city streets and the passage of cattle through the city.
The DC city council’s criminal code overhaul would have eliminated many required minimum terms and reduced sentence maximums, especially for severe offences like carjackings.
Local Democrats are unable to reach an agreement.
Local leaders on the council, which is dominated by Democrats, have been divided by the adjustments. The most vocal opponent of the new criminal code is Washington, DC’s Democratic mayor, Muriel Bowser, who is not a supporter of national Republicans. In fact, earlier this year, DC’s council overrode her veto of the motion.
Bowser supports the most of the proposals, but has expressed reservations about decreasing some maximum punishments and significantly boosting the number of jury trials.
A special commission that has been working on the new code for years has argued that the higher maximum punishments are more in line with what judges really impose. Bowser has suggested that decreasing the maximum punishment will lead to judges imposing shorter sentences as well.
Taking advantage of DC to send a message about crime
While Democrats want to make DC a state, the Constitution grants Congress authority over the federal district that contains the US government’s headquarters.
Republicans in Congress, joined by some Democrats, have promised to use their clout in Washington to derail the criminal code overhaul.
Congress can review legislation approved by the city council under the home rule provision that gave DC’s local government more power back in the 1970s, and simple majorities can reject anything.
In a vote last month, the House rejected DC’s new criminal law in a bipartisan but primarily Republican vote. The Senate is expected to vote on the revised criminal code next week, with Democrats like West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin on board.
Biden wants to have it both ways.
By vetoing the bill currently before Congress, Biden might allow the new criminal code to go into effect. It only takes 34 Democrats to override the veto. Instead, he has stated unequivocally that he will kill the new criminal code revision.
As stated in the previous edition of What Matters, Biden articulated his views in a tweet, which is no less difficult to follow today:
I favour D.C. statehood and home rule, but I disagree with some of the modifications proposed by D.C. Council despite the Mayor’s objections, such as lessening carjacking penalties.
I’ll sign it if the Senate decides to overturn what the D.C. Council did.
If you’re perplexed about how someone can support home rule while also siding with his usual political adversaries to prevent DC from ruling itself, you’ll understand why this action feels like a betrayal to many Democrats.
“Any attempt to overthrow the District of Columbia’s democratically passed laws undermines the right of its nearly 700,000 residents and elected officials to self-govern,” said the district’s attorney general, Brian Schwalb.
All of this has resulted in a bizarre situation in which Bowser, the mayor, opposes both the council’s new criminal code and Biden’s determination to kill it.
“We live with that indignity until we are the 51st state,” Bowser told local Radio station WAMU, referring to the “effects of restricted home rule.”
Why would Biden do something like this?
Lori Lightfoot, in two words. She’s the Chicago mayor who was soundly beaten in her reelection bid this week, finishing third in voting. The dominant theme in the campaign was crime and its control, a departure from Lightfoot’s election four years ago on promises to promote police reform.
Crime is become a powerful issue in local city elections, and Republicans are preparing to use it against Democrats in the upcoming presidential race.
According to AWN’s Kyle Feldscher, Manu Raju, and Kevin Liptak, Biden’s decision “reflects a growing desire among more moderate Democratic senators to avoid being perceived as soft on crime.”
They point out that before deciding to oppose criminal code reform in DC, Biden was a supporter of home rule. According to the formal statement outlining his administration’s policy, Congress should support DC’s autonomy.
Return to the drawing board
Even Delaware Democrat Sen. Tom Carper, who presented a bill to grant DC statehood in January, would not criticise Biden for rejecting the city council’s decision.
Carper came on AWN on Friday morning and stated unequivocally that he supports Biden’s choice to work with Republicans to repeal the new criminal code.
“What needs to happen here is that the Washington, DC, council and the mayor collaborate,” Carper said. “The criminal code hasn’t been revised in almost a century. They didn’t get it quite right when they ran the exercises last year.”
