By Luis Miguel
Is the nation’s capital descending into a crime-ridden dystopia? Washington, D.C., now finds itself in the middle of a teen-age crime wave, with adolescents engaging in serious crimes such as murder, robbery, and carjackings — all while public officials swat away public concerns.
As The Washington Free Beacon notes, more than 63 percent of car robbery arrests this year have involved underage perps.
In one case, a D.C. resident who was only 14 years old was charged with felony murder in July. In another case, a 15-year-old shot Washington Commanders running back Brian Robinson, Jr. and murdered another teenager. But because D.C. law establishes that minors cannot be held in jail beyond their 21st birthday, the killer was sentenced to only six years in prison.
The mother of the slain victim expressed her outrage in remarks to Fox 5, saying: “I think if you’re old enough to shoot someone or take someone’s car with a gun, you should be able to do life in jail, you should be able to do the time for the crime, ’cause I’m never going to see my son again.”
Then there’s the case of five teenagers who in late August were arrested after they were caught on video using a stolen vehicle to try to carjack a man. Some of the suspects were released immediately, while others will face lenient sentences. One of the suspects is a 13-year-old girl who had been involved in a series of crimes spanning four days.
“It’s very bad for [the] community.… I am scared to go to D.C. [to] work,” the victim of the attempted carjacking, a food delivery driver, told Fox 5. “Why this age — why not go to school?”
Despite the public concerns over the rising lawbreaking among the city’s youth, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, a Democrat, has held to his view that criminal justice should focus on rehabilitation, downplaying the situation with remarks such as “kids are kids” who should not “be treated as adults.”
Earlier this year, Schwalb opposed the “Get Tough on Crime” bill, which would expand pretrial detention for minors deemed dangerous.
Schwalb’s website has a section promoting his vision of “restorative justice,” which reads:
“Restorative justice is a theory of justice that emphasizes re-pairing the harm caused by criminal behavior. It is a victim-centered approach to addressing crime and conflict, which provides the victim and the young person who caused harm a chance to opt into a facilitated conversation about what happened, how everyone was affected, and what needs to happen to resolve the matter so that it never happens again. Restorative justice hails from indigenous practices in Na-tive American, West African, and New Zealand cultures. The theory of restorative justice is built on extensive research and has proven positive outcomes in rigorous studies around the world.”
Schwalb’s rhetoric is not new, but rather a longtime leftist talking point about rehabilitation and being merciful to lawbreakers — even while such mercy clearly is anything but compassionate to the victims and their loved ones.
The nation’s capital is following in the footsteps of other Democrat-run cities. Chicago, once known for its universities, museums, architecture, and strong cultural-academic communities, is now virtually the murder capital of America, with sky-high homicide rates the norm.
San Francisco, likewise once a bastion of art, commerce, science, and high culture, has become a literal dumping ground for homelessness run rampant and serial theft-robbery the authorities are unwilling to address.
And as The New American reported in September, San Fran-cisco is the home of piracy’s comeback. Thieves and marauders are targeting marinas and boaters along the city’s coast, making use of small watercraft.
Anarchy and lawlessness create a breeding ground for the rise of big-government tyranny, which is precisely the end goal the Left wants to achieve.