D. C. Criminal Reforms to Immediately Make Everyone Safe Act of 2025
In progressDC Criminal Reforms to Immediately Make Everyone Safe Act or the DC CRIMES Act This bill limits the authority of the District of Columbia (DC) government over its criminal sentencing laws. The bill eliminates the DC government’s authority to enact any act, resolution, or rule to change any criminal liability sentence in effect on the date of the bill's enactment. The bill also (1) reduces the maximum age of a youth offender from 24 years to 18 years, and (2) repeals a provision that allows a DC criminal court to issue a sentence to a youth offender that is less than the mandatory minimum term otherwise required by law. A DC criminal court currently has the discretion to reduce or modify certain criminal sentences for a youth offender under specified circumstances. For example, a DC court may sentence a youth offender to probation in lieu of confinement. (However, this discretion does not apply to several specified violent crimes.) Additionally, the bill directs the Office of the Attorney General for DC to publish, and update monthly, certain youth offender crime data on a publicly accessible website.
Sep 17, 2025Received in the Senate.
Passed
The DC CRIMES Act aims to limit youth offender status to those 18 or younger, establish a public website for juvenile crime statistics, and restrict the DC Council from altering criminal liability sentences. The bill's provisions are clear but raise constitutional concerns regarding local governance autonomy and lack detailed fiscal analysis.
