Juveniles Need to Be Held Accountable for Violent Crimes: DC Mayor

DC Mayor Muriel Bowser attends a press conference in Washington, on June 10, 2020. Win McNamee/Getty Images

Washington’s Anacostia Coordinating Council (ACC) held a meeting Tuesday with Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser in attendance. While the mayor discussed her administration’s many accomplishments in Anacostia, violent crimes committed by juveniles were at the top of the community’s mind.

Mayor Muriel Bowser told the residents that juveniles have to be held accountable for acts of violence, starting in school. She wants to see a violence prevention approach that helps families with mental health but also draws a hard line about violence, like shootings and murder.

“I’m not a person who wants to see all of our [black] men go to jail. So, I don’t want anybody to say, ’she wants everybody to go to jail' [but] if you use a gun and you shoot somebody, [or] you use a gun, and you might shoot somebody [or] if you use a gun and you have already shot somebody, there has to be accountability in our system, there has just had to be,” said Bowser.

The mayor said the work of preventing crimes and holding people accountable has to start in school, to teach children that their behavior has consequences.

“I think we’ve gone too far in the framework that we set up in our schools,” said Bowser, referring to the lack of consequences for students who assault teachers. Adding that the lack of consequences “was a legitimate response to over-suspension.”

Prior to these lenient discipline rules, Washington schools saw a higher suspension rate for black students, said Bowser, and in trying to combat the high rate of suspensions, took away tools from teachers to be able to hold students accountable for unacceptable behaviors.

“We have also taken tools away from our educators. Do you think a child should strike a teacher? No. Do you think that that child should go back to school the next day?” asked Bowser. “OK, but that’s the system we have in our schools right now. So, if a child learns that he can strike his teacher at school and go back to school, what do you think we taught him about his life on the street?”

Bowser said that current school discipline policies need to be “reset.”

DC Residents Are Afraid

Murder in the nation’s capital is up almost 15 percent from 2022, violent crime up 16 percent, and overall crime up 28 percent, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.

“A lot of seniors find themselves staying at home because they’re afraid to go out in the street,” said Lamont Mitchell, chairman of the ACC Board of Directors.

The mayor said while she is concerned about the safety of seniors, their safety is connected to the well-being of children who live in the district.

“And one thing that we are very aware of is we can’t just separate kids from their families. If we have a troubled kid, you probably have a troubled family,” said Bowser. “And so, we ensure that we’re able to support the entire family is important to the work that we do.”

Bowser said there had been strategic investments in Ward 8, with affordable housing and homeowner projects, recreation, small businesses, and infrastructure projects like a new hospital, all to address issues around poverty and to prevent violence. However, residents of Ward 8 want to see more done to hold criminals accountable.

“There’s a perception among people who are violence-prone that they can get away with it. With that, the odds are that they can get away with it. And it’s one of the reasons we see so many crimes and the brazenness of it in broad daylight,” said ACC’s Executive Director Phillip Pannell.

In 2022, over 900 juveniles were arrested for various crimes throughout Washington, and in early May, a 12-year-old boy was allegedly involved in a carjacking in the district.

Bowser agreed with Pannell’s comments and said she is particularly concerned about younger teens getting involved in criminal activities.

A pedestrian walks past a closed barber shop in Ward 7 in Washington, on May 8, 2020. Leah Millis/Reuters

Legislation to Reduce Crime

“I know that a lot of what we see out on the street is a result of decades of trauma,” said Bowser. “I know all of that, but I still want to be able to walk down the street without somebody shooting me.”

Bowser said violence prevention requires helping families with mental health but also holding people accountable.

“We got to work in our schools. We got to do violence interruption. We have to make sure people are getting connected to mental health and substance abuse. But we also have to draw a line and say you can’t shoot us,” said Bowser.

Bowser told community members that she agrees with them that there isn’t enough accountability for violent criminals in Washington’s current criminal justice system.

At every community meeting she attends, there are residents who are concerned about robberies, carjackings, and gun violence in the district, the mayor said. In response to the rise in crime, the mayor has proposed a new piece of legislation, “Safer, Stronger 2.0,” to “fill in the gaps” in the criminal justice system.

“I believe, upon review, that we have gaps in our law. So, we will continue to work on those issues with your council member and the members of the council,” said Bowser. The D.C. Council will have a hearing to consider the legislation on June 27.

Having young people engaged in positive activities is also very important, said Bowser, and she highlighted her administration’s effort to engage young children and teens in summer recreation programs so they are involved in healthy activities like swimming and summer camps, with 10,000 children enrolled in summer school and 12,000 enrolled in summer camps.

Meanwhile, another community member criticized “progressives,” saying they often don’t live in the areas where their experimental policies are implemented.

“There are young people in our city killing people! I‘m going to say it again, there are young people killing people,” said activist Ron Moten.

Washington’s Ward 7 and Ward 8 have had higher levels of gun violence compared with other areas of the city. These wards also have a higher level of poverty and fewer economic opportunities, which Bowser has spent her time in office addressing.

The district’s demographics have changed over the decades due to factors like gentrification and housing and economic development, and although black residents live in all areas of the city, they are concentrated in Ward 7 and Ward 8.