Surge in VIOLENT CRIMES disrupting lives and businesses in Washington, D.C.
10/12/2023 / By Zoey Sky
The spike in violent crimes this 2023 continues to worry residents of the District of Columbia.
At the same time, law enforcement struggles to stop the bloodshed while several cities in the country are seeing double-digit declines in homicides.
In Washington Highlands, a known violent neighborhood in the nation’s capital, facilitators recently discussed to a group of children the things they should do when gunfire erupts.
Facilitators explained that these somber lessons carry “added urgency,” especially when there is an increase in shootings. One incident left an 18-year-old dead near the center in September.
In gentrified Shaw, where many trendy restaurants can be spotted in areas with condos listed for more than $1 million, unusually high levels of gun violence have made longtime residents feeling tense.
According to police data, the district has seen 216 homicides in 2023, 38 percent more than at this point in 2022. The number is more than any full year from 2004 to 2020.
Meanwhile, killings are down in 2023 in big cities from coast to coast:
- It was down by 24 percent in Los Angeles
- It was down by 19 percent in Houston
- It was down by 18 percent in Philadelphia
- It was down by 12 percent in Chicago
- It was down by 11 percent in New York City
Lindsey Appiah, D.C.’s deputy mayor for public safety, said “Public safety has been and continues to be the No. 1 concern for district residents.”
She added that other types of crime also drive fear. In the area, robberies have gone up by 70 percent and car thefts have more than doubled. (Related: Businesses that endorsed BLM now closing their stores in San Francisco as rampant violence and crime overwhelms.)
To help assuage fears, district officials have added more visible police patrols and enforced the juvenile curfew. Back in July, the D.C. Council passed emergency legislation making it easier to detain criminal suspects pretrial.
According to Appiah, violent crime declined after the law took effect, and the jail population increased by at least 25 percent.
On Oct. 2, Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas was carjacked in the city. He is the second member of Congress to experience a violent crime in D.C. in 2023.
Earlier in March, House Republicans blocked an overhaul of D.C.’s outdated criminal code, claiming that the Democratic-led district’s new code was “soft on crime.” According to local officials, the lawmakers misrepresented the code overhaul.
Law enforcement can’t pinpoint a single reason for the increase in violent crimes
Law enforcement officials insist that there is no single reason to explain D.C.’s alarming violent crime increase. They also said factors such as the steady flow of illegal guns, a diminished police force, and the lingering effects of COVID-19 pandemic disruptions are issues not unique to Washington.
Officials also said homicides in D.C. fell 10 percent in 2022, a steeper drop than those in other big cities.
However, in the district, most crimes committed by adults are prosecuted by an appointed U.S. attorney, not an elected district attorney.
U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves has been criticized for declining to charge at the time of arrest a whopping 67 percent of offenses that would have been tried in D.C. Superior Court, the typical venue for non-federal crimes, during fiscal year 2022.
Graves, who has been in office since 2021, claimed that the rate is driven by several factors that are out of his control, such as the D.C. crime lab’s lack of accreditation. He added that his staff’s charging rate was higher for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, but his office hasn’t released figures.
Fatal shootings have skyrocketed in 2023 in Washington Highlands, a low-income neighborhood.
City figures revealed that 15 people have been killed by gunfire in 2023, up from eight at this time last year.
Assistant Police Chief Carlos Heraud said the violence in that part of Southeast D.C., near the Maryland line, is potentially due to tension between rival “crews.”
According to Appiah, the police department has boosted patrols in Southeast.
Holly Scott, 52, is a Washington Highlands resident who now leaves earlier for her public transit commute to an overnight job as a case manager. Scott added that she is anxious about being on neighborhood streets late at night.
To protect herself, she carries her licensed gun “because it happens that randomly.”
City officials explained that an increase in violent crime in parts of the city generally not used to it has broadened the public’s anxiety.
Thomas Abt, a criminologist and the founding director of the Center for the Study and Practice of Violence Reduction at the University of Maryland, explained that violence typically concentrated in poorer areas can “spill over.”
In 2023, 21 people have been killed in Ward 1, covering a part of Shaw and other neighborhoods, up from 14 all last year, revealed police data.
Four homicides have occurred in the area where Shaw Main Streets works, with six others reported around the nearby U Street nightlife corridor. Several incidents occurred due to disputes inside clubs, reported Ward 1 Council Member Brianne Nadeau. However, city officials blame crew-related violence.
Just past T Street, a fatal shooting occurred outside a nearby takeout one afternoon in June, reported the police.
The owners of Right Proper Brewing said they will move the brewpub when their lease ends unless there is a drastic improvement in condition. Common problems in the area include public drug use.
Their landlord, Steven Cassell, said people “don’t want to come hang out in Shaw anymore, period.” Cassell, whose company developed the residential, retail and office complex, added that this results in “a ton of investment that’s going down the tubes.”
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