House passes 2 bills aimed at overhauling DC’s lax crime laws with bipartisan support

The House of Representatives on Tuesday passed two bills aimed at overhauling Washington, DC’s age of criminal responsibility and lenient sentencing guidelines with bipartisan support.

The DC CRIMES Act cleared the lower chamber in a 240-179 vote, with 31 Democrats joining all Republicans except for Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.). 

The second bill, H.R. 5140, passed in a 225-203 vote, with eight Democrats backing it and just one Republican, Massie, voting against it. 

US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro hailed the votes as a “critical first step following President Trump’s highly successful surge to address violent crime in DC.”

“He is the first president to recognize the out-of-control crime and the fact that it can be stopped,” Pirro told The Post.

“The fact that these bills received bipartisan support shows that both sides recognize the need to change the trajectory of violence in our nation’s capital,” the district’s top prosecutor added.

The DC CRIMES Act, sponsored by Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), seeks to lower the maximum age a criminal defendant is considered a “youth offender” from 24 to 18 and repeal local provisions that allowed DC judges to sentence youth offenders to less than mandatory minimum terms. 

Under DC law, youth offenders as old as 24 are currently eligible for reduced or modified sentences, such as probation instead of a jail sentence, for certain crimes.  

“Simply put, if you’re 18-24 years old and you commit a crime in our nation’s capital, you should be sentenced as an adult,” Donalds wrote on X after the vote. “This is common sense.

“We are Making DC Safe Again.” 

H.R. 5140, introduced by Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas), aims to lower the age DC teenagers can be charged as adults from 16 to 14. 

Under current district law, criminal defendants under the age of 18 years are tried as juveniles in family court.  

In some cases, 16-year-olds may be tried as adults if charges include murder, first-degree sexual abuse, first-degree burglary, armed robbery or assault with intent to commit one of the other offenses — and the criteria for 15-year-olds is even more stringent. 

“We’re done coddling violent offenders who terrorize our communities,” Gill wrote on X. 

The congressman added: “Dems may coddle thugs, but Republicans put them in jail.” 

Gill cited the shocking 2021 murder of Uber Eats driver Mohammed Anwar in pushing for the reforms. 

Anwar, 66, was killed as he clung to his vehicle during a carjacking attempt by a pair of teenagers — a 15-year-old girl and a 13-year-old girl. 

Both teens pleaded guilty to murder and were sentenced to serve time at a juvenile detention center until they turn 21. 

“In two years, she’ll be released back onto our streets,” Gill said of the “15-year-old thug” responsible for Anwar’s death. 

“My bill ensures violent juveniles face the full weight of the law, not a slap on the wrist.”

The DC CRIMES ACT and H.R. 5140 must clear the Senate before Trump can sign them into law.

The bills are part of several pieces of legislation the House is expected to take up this week that seek to toughen up DC’s crime laws. 

Trump’s emergency order federalizing the city’s police department — as part of a sweeping crime crackdown — expired last week. 

Since Trump’s takeover, Pirro has argued in favor of repealing locally ratified laws as a way to crack down on crime in the district long term. 

“I am advocating, and have advocated for jurisdiction over juveniles… They need to be brought into the criminal court so that we can prosecute them, because if we do, we can prevent the murder that happened here based upon the histories of these two and the third individual that I cannot talk about,” Pirro said earlier this month, as she announced that the two teenagers charged with murdering congressional intern Eric Tarpinian-Jachym would be tried as adults. 

“We’re going to need Congress to change the law. And I believe that if there’s any case that calls for it, it is this case that makes it clear that these young punks who are on the street with guns, shooting at each other, killing innocent people, they need to be brought into my system and not in the family court system for rehabilitation, because they’ve been in that system more than once, and I don’t think they’ve been rehabilitated,” she added.