New Report: How to Solve DC's Crime Issue 

The District’s criminal justice system must expand its capacity to fight crime 

NEW YORK, NY — Washington, DC, is making headlines for its crime problems. The past few days have been no exception: last Saturday saw a bloody morning  during which the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) responded to four separate shootings and a double stabbing in a matter of hours. While crime has retreated in other cities, the District remains an outlier. In 2023, murders spiked, and carjackings—many carried out by teenage offenders—surged. These disturbing crimes are compounded by a general decay in public order, with residents complaining of rampant fare-beating, panhandling, and shoplifting.  

In a new Manhattan Institute report, fellow Charles Fain Lehman offers a novel diagnosis of and solutions for DC’s rampant crime. Lehman explains that DC does not have a single crime problem but several distinct problems. These include a long-standing homicide and group-violence problem; adolescent crime; and public disorder, including fare evasion and uncontrolled unsheltered homelessness. These problems can be traced back to a dramatic change in the DC criminal justice system capacity to punish and deter crime. Over the past four years, DC has undergone reductions in police staffing and activity, prosecution, pretrial detention, and judicial staffing.  

Thus, the most effective way to get crime under control is to restore or expand the capacity of DC’s criminal justice system. Lehman outlines several proposals for such remediation, which include:  

• Federally fund MPD hiring;
• Expand professional development opportunities for MPD officers;
• “Civilianize” certain MPD roles;
• Concentrate limited policing resources;
• Build a dedicated federal–District gang suppression partnership;
• Encourage the public to fight crime through public nuisance abatement and the ability of the Advisory Neighborhood Commission to deny liquor licenses;
• Permit the DC attorney general to prosecute cases that the U.S. attorney declines;
• Give the Senate a time-limited veto over, rather than a confirmation responsibility for, appointments to DC’s courts;
• Prosecute truants engaged in criminal behavior;
• Clear camps without apology.

Click here to view the full report.