As DC residents call on local officials to do more to curb gun violence, the District’s new attorney general is clarifying the role his office plays in prosecuting violent crime.
As DC residents call on local officials to do more to curb gun violence, the District’s new attorney general is clarifying the role his office plays in prosecuting violent crime.
As he settles into his new role, DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb spoke with WTOP about the city’s crime situation and the fact that many of the cases involve children. The District had seen seven homicides so far in 2023 as of Monday, which is two more than in the same time span last year.
“Any time you have a young man, a victim of gun violence, killed by gun violence, it’s a tragedy,” Schwalb told WTOP.
As the elected city attorney, Schwalb said there are some misconceptions about the role his office plays in the criminal justice system. For one thing, the office only has jurisdiction over crimes in which juveniles are charged: All adult cases fall under the responsibility of the US Attorney’s Office, the city’s federal prosecutor.
“A lot of people don’t really understand that because we’re not a state, we only have partial control over our criminal justice system,” Schwalb said.
Schwalb said a move toward statehood would be beneficial, because it would give voters, not the federal government, the choice of who prosecutes local crimes.
“I think in the long run, that’s what we should be aiming for in the District of Columbia … to have more control over our own criminal justice system,” Schwalb said.
But for now, he said, his office will continue to focus on juvenile cases.
“We have an obligation to prosecute juvenile criminal cases … when we have the evidence to do our burden of proof, particularly with weapons cases and violent repeat offenders,” Schwalb said.
Schwalb said prevention is another important part of his office’s work, which includes the Cure the Streets violence interruption program. The program places violence switches in targeted neighborhoods to reduce conflict through mediation.
Both the DC police and Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office run similar programs, and Schwalb said he hopes to facilitate communication between them in the future.
“What we may be doing is making sure that the communications between the different groups are flagged and focused,” Schwalb said. “This is best with a clear message and a mandate from senior leadership, from the mayor, the attorney general and the (police chief), that this is a high priority.”
As for what his office can do now to help reduce crime in the future, he said his focus is on the civic work his office is doing to address root causes, which he said may include housing instability or inequities. persistent economics. The other approach is to go after people who take advantage of consumers, the elderly, and workers.
“All of that is critical to our civil jurisdiction which I think helps us create a society where crime is less likely to happen,” Schwalb said.
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