D.C. Youth Crime Reform Act

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

1. This bill limits youth offender status to individuals under 18 years old in the District of Columbia. 2. The Attorney General must create a public website with updated statistics on juvenile crime. 3. The website will include data on arrests, demographics, and types of crimes committed by juveniles. 4. The bill prohibits the Council of the District of Columbia from changing existing criminal sentences. 5. The Attorney General must update the website monthly and ensure no personal information is disclosed.