This bill would significantly restrict how Washington, D.C. handles criminal sentencing, particularly for young offenders. Right now, D.C. has the flexibility to update its criminal laws and sentencing rules as it sees fit. This bill would freeze that ability—preventing D.C. from making any changes to criminal sentences that are currently on the books.

The bill also makes specific changes to how young people are treated in the criminal justice system. Currently, D.C. considers people up to age 24 as "youth offenders" and gives judges some flexibility to impose lighter sentences for these younger defendants in certain situations—for example, allowing probation instead of jail time. This bill would lower the youth offender age limit to 18 and eliminate judges' ability to give reduced sentences to young offenders, meaning mandatory minimum sentences would apply more strictly.

Finally, the bill requires D.C.'s Attorney General to publish detailed crime statistics about youth offenders on a public website and update it every month. The overall effect is that D.C. would have less control over its own criminal justice system, and young people between 18 and 24 would face stricter, less flexible sentencing requirements.

D. C. Criminal Reforms to Immediately Make Everyone Safe Act of 2025

Donalds, Byron

DC Criminal Reforms to Immediately Make Everyone Safe Act or the DC CRIMES ActThis bill limits the authority of the District of Columbia (DC) government over its criminal sentencing laws.&nbsp;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.)&nbsp;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.&nbsp;