Washington AG Says Capital Cannot ‘Prosecute or Arrest Our Way’ Out of Crime Wave

File image shows a police officer in Washington. Alex Wong/Getty Images

The top prosecutor in the nation’s capital said this week that officials will not be able to “prosecute or arrest our way” out of a spike in crime that has left some residents angry and scared.

Participating in a panel discussion on the spike in youth crime, District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb said, “We as a city and a community need to be much more focused on prevention and surrounding young people and their families with resources if we want to be safer in the long run.”

He added, “We cannot prosecute and arrest our way out of it, even though we’re going to do our best to bring good cases and hold kids accountable.”

The comments on Jan. 30 came days after Mike Gill, who served in President Donald Trump’s administration, was critically injured in his vehicle in downtown Washington.

The suspect who allegedly shot Mr. Gill, Artell Cunningham, went on to shoot Alberto Vasquez Jr., according to authorities. Mr. Cunningham was eventually shot dead by police in Maryland.

Mr. Cunningham was arrested in 2021 on felony charges after he threatened to kill police officers who responded to reports of a shooting, according to court records. Prosecutors in Washington dropped the charges.

Mr. Schwalb, a Democrat who took office in 2023, has also dropped charges against multiple suspects, including youth accused of carjacking.

He has opposed legislation that would mandate the pretrial detention of certain people charged with crimes, telling legislators that parts of the bill “default back to the flawed assumption that easier and lengthier incarceration, both pretrial and after adjudication, will improve public safety.” The Council of the District of Columbia later passed a similar bill.

‘Like a Virus’

Violent crime and carjackings in Washington soared in 2023, up 39 percent and 82 percent, respectively, from the prior year, according to city data. Most people arrested for carjackings in recent years have been minors. In 2024, there has already been 49 carjackings.

Some panel members expressed surprise upon learning about cases that were not pursued. Among them was Kevin McGilly, whose 15-year-old son had charges against him dropped just a day after being arrested for carjacking.

“That was it. No follow-up. No support, no nothing. And that was happening at volume in the city. Okay, at volume. And the reason was, we don’t want to further traumatize kids by putting them in a criminal justice system. We don’t want to harm them more,” Mr. McGilly said. “But what ended up happening is it introduced more kids to the problem. It spread it like a virus.”

“Kids can steal a car and nothing is done,” added Jawanna Hardy, founder of the group Guns Down Friday.

Mr. Schwalb said that deterrence is important and for that to be part of the system, “we need to have prompt arrest[s]” and “swift consequences.” But the standard for arresting a suspect and prosecuting them is different, he said.

“Sometimes there may be probable cause for an arrest, but not enough evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a crime has occurred,” Mr. Schwalb said. “The prosecutors in my office, who are extraordinarily talented and hard workers, committed to their roles and trying more cases now than historically given the uptick in crime, are going to act with integrity. We are never going to charge a crime that we do not believe, in good faith, we have the evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt.”

A key factor in prosecution is having an eyewitness, but in some cases witnesses cannot positively identify suspects, according to the prosecutor. There have been some youth arrested seven or even 10 times, but prosecutors have chosen not to charge for all of the crimes because it would not add any additional punishment due to sentencing caps for juveniles.

Mr. Schwalb said that of the arrests for carjacking in 2023, about 40 percent were prosecuted. That’s the same percentage as 2020 and 2021, he said. “Of course, the denominator has gotten much bigger,” he said.

‘Tough Decisions’

When later questioned by residents, Mr. Schwalb said that the result of the legislation passed by the council is more children “locked up in a system that has a marginal capacity right now to absorb more people.”

“None of these decisions are costless,” he said. “All of these decisions have cost. Do we as a community build more prisons and more places to lock people up? Does that sound familiar in terms of what our country has done previously, to try to address crime?

“Are we as a community ready to commit the resources to building more prisons and more detention facilities? And are we willing to acknowledge that when we lock young people up, and we put them in places where they are detained and potentially at risk, sometimes we cause harm? That also has a cost to society. So these are tough decisions.”

Panelists said the motivation for the carjackings included having fun.

The U.S. Department of Justice, which also handles some cases in Washington, announced in January it would send a team led by the FBI to help deal with violent crime, including carjackings.

“We have been surgically targeting and prosecuting those driving violence within our community,” U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves said in a statement. “The surge of resources to these efforts will allow us to continue to expand on these efforts and to take even more drivers of violence off our streets.”