The Public Defender Services represents indigent defendants, constituents unable to afford private legal representation, by allocating public legal services towards the most serious and complex juvenile and adult crimes. As a Trial and Civil Intern Investigator, I often conduct field work in the Southeast of the District of Columbia due to heightened crime in gentrified areas. Decades after the increase in crime in the 90s, the Southeast of the District of Columbia is experiencing a steady increase in violent crimes, such as homicide, sexual abuse, assault with a dangerous weapon, armed robbery, and carjacking. A long history of tense relationships between residents of Black neighborhoods and the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), fueled by instances of consistent police surveillance, harassment, and sometimes brutality, has brought conflict and disruption to local and national legislatures. Through research, I have evaluated Wards 7 and 8 have the highest concentration of poverty. With systematic adult and juvenile gun violence, gentrification, and lack of public and private investment, the District of Columbia does not engage with such communities to prevent systemic racism, displacement, and economic disinvestment. Due to severe food insecurity, known as food deserts, which consists of limited access to affordable nutrition and food, local youth and adults are of poor health and nutritional status. As of 2023, the poverty rate of children in the District of Columbia is 30%. Historically, Southeast has had a high unemployment rate, mass removal, and poor transit access. With crimes spiking in the afternoon and evenings, residents are afraid to leave their homes as public safety is essential to a community’s quality of life. Coupled with income poverty, highest proportions of households without cars or jobs, and aggressive policing, the historical and systematic issues which surround gentrified Black communities in the District of Columbia influence rising crime rates.
Heightened crime rates have been influenced by structural inequalities such as the legislative process in the District of Columbia. As the District of Columbia is not a state, the Council of the District of Columbia must obtain a majority vote in Congress to implement legislative acts. The Revised Criminal Code Act, which revises the District of Columbia’s Criminal Code, was passed by the Council of the District of Columbia by overridding Mayor Bowser’s veto. However, the House of Representatives did not obtain a majority vote in 2023. The Revised Criminal Code Act would have eliminated most mandatory minimum prison sentences, reduced the maximum sentence for crimes such as burglaries, carjackings, and robberies, and allowed jury trials for misdemeanor cases of which prison sentence is possible. However, the Revised Criminal Code Act did not address in any way the District of Columbia’s Criminal Juvenile Code. In July 2023, a Juvenile Curfew Enforcement was implemented for children under 17 years old and an expansion of CCTV (surveillance) was implemented in Ward 7.
Recommendations towards lowering crime in the District of Columbia through public policy should improve a sense of community within Wards 7 and 8 by providing adequate public resources such as affordable housing, low-priced grocery stores, improved public transit options, adding outdoor leisure spaces (parks, playgrounds, swimming pools), implementing organized youth recreational activities, improving public mental health services, and increasing public school funding. Other suggestions include reform of body camera footage use and heightened police discipline. As I interviewed government witnesses, evaluated emergency services and police recordings, and analyzed evidence, I would recommend increased support services and funding for juvenile defendants through the Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA), the Court Services Offender Supervision Agency (CSOSA), and the Department of Youth and Rehabilitation Services (DYRS). Based on discovery provided along with client experiences, the Metropolitan Police Department has often failed to impose consequences on police officers found to have committed serious misconduct.
The subject I hope to conduct research about for the CapStone Project will be the District of Columbia’s Prioritizing Public Safety Emergency Amendment Act. In July 2023, Mayor Muriel Bowser for the District of Columbia proposed the District of Columbia’s Prioritizing Public Safety Emergency Amendment Act of 2023 to combat the increase in crime. In August 2023, Mayor Muriel Bowser pressured to declare a State of Emergency in the District of Columbia. Recent proposals by the Council of the District of Columbia to dispatch the United States National Guard in Ward 7 and Ward 8 have emerged in the legislature. Along with evaluating the Council of the District of Columbia’s legislative process, and meetings, I have scheduled an interview with Special Counsel on Policy Katerina Semyonova for the Public Defender Services for the District of Columbia and will analyze comments presented by Director Heather R. Pinckney for the Public Defender Services for the District of Columbia.
I have attached a few photographs of the Anacostia Historic District in Southeast, District of Columbia, the Metropolitan Police Department Districts Map of the District of Columbia, and the demolition of a neighborhood in Barry Farms in Southeast, District of Columbia,
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