Obviously, when you enact pro-criminal policies, you get a crime crisis. However, that realization was not so obvious to the D.C. City Council.

Instead of focusing on public safety, local officials obsess over racial justice and supposed unfairness to criminal defendants because policymakers are so convinced that those convicted of crimes are victims of the system.

The “solution” to this manmade problem has resulted in the failed enforcement of laws. Which subsequently does nothing to protect residents as prosecutors de facto refuse to punish violent criminals.

Ironically, the status quo in our nation's capital is a pervasive culture of violence.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a public emergency in an attempt to address skyrocketing incidents of youth crime and an ongoing opioid problem in our nation's capital.

“Opioids have inflicted profound harm on communities within Washington, DC and across the nation, causing staggering mortality rates, strain on the healthcare system, transmission of infectious diseases through needle sharing, adverse effects on families and communities, economic burdens, and treatment barriers,” according to the press release.

Between 2018 and 2022, opioid-related fatal overdoses in D.C. have more than doubled, from 213 to 461 lives lost per year. Fentanyl and its analogs are now linked to 98% of overdose deaths.

D.C. is suffering an increase in crime among juveniles. In the first nine months of this year, there have been 458 arrests of youth for robbery, including homicide, or assault. This is 10 percent more than the total of such arrests in all of last year. And at least 151 minors have been arrested for carjackings, which is one-third of all carjacking that resulted in arrest.

“The number of District youth victimized by violent crime has also increased significantly. Between January and October 2023, 97 juveniles suffered gunshot wounds, including 15 homicides – a 9% increase from the same period in 2022,” the statement reads.

"In the last five weeks leading up to this emergency declaration, five youths who were already being electronically monitored were killed," according to Bowser’s statement.

“This emergency legislation established a rebuttable presumption that pre-hearing detention is necessary where the D.C. Superior Court determines there is a substantial probability that a youth committed certain violent crimes. That provision aims to reduce juvenile repeat offenses and ensure the District can connect youth who have committed violent crimes with the rehabilitative supports proven to reduce recidivism,” according to the statement.

D.C.’s approach to crime, especially juvenile crime, has been trash. If someone is under 18, they cannot be held in jail beyond their 21st birthday. Subsequently, even murderers have avoided significant jail time, according to the Washington Free Beacon.

It is probably safe to assume that none of these radical social experiments even ended racism like progressives promised it would.

D.C.’s system is set up in a way that only benefits criminals, at the expense of public safety. It really is not that difficult, holding people accountable for their actions is a deterrent to crime. But now they want to act so surprised and concenrced that all this happened. What a joke.