DC CRIMES Act of 2024

What it does

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 reduces the maximum age of a youth offender from 24 years to 18 years. 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.

Summary by the Congressional Research Service, Apr 30, 2024 (Reported to House). CRS summarizes bills impartially; it does not take positions.