BIDEN LETS CRIMINALS RUN FREE IN D.C. An amazing statistic has been circulating among people who follow crime in Washington, D.C. In 2022, the U.S. attorney in Washington, appointed by President Joe Biden, declined to prosecute 67% of all arrests in the city. That's not 67% of all crimes committed. It's 67% of instances in which police have identified, captured, and charged a suspect. Prosecutors just let them go.
The situation was reported by a Substack called DC Crime Facts, with more reporting added by the Washington Post.
The number, 67%, is off the charts, especially when compared with other cities with significant crime problems. In Detroit, prosecutors declined 33% of cases — and that itself was high. In Philadelphia, prosecutors declined just 4% of cases, and in Chicago, 14%, all according to numbers compiled by the Washington Post.
The U.S. attorney in Washington is Matthew Graves, appointed in 2021 by Biden. He sat for an interview with the Washington Post and remarkably tried to argue that his office is not prosecuting less serious crimes because it is focusing on more serious crimes. When it comes to the big stuff — murders, armed carjackings, assaults with intent to kill, and first-degree sexual assault — Graves told the Washington Post that his office is doing its job. In those cases, Graves said, his office prosecutes 87.9% of all arrests. (That is a lot, the Washington Post noted, but less than the 95.6% prosecuted by Graves's Trump-appointed predecessor.)
The problem is the less serious crimes that Graves is declining to prosecute include *****, gun possession, and a variety of misdemeanors. In all, according to statistics compiled by the Justice Department, Graves declined to prosecute nearly 53% of all felony arrests, as well as 72% of all misdemeanor arrests. Felonies are by definition serious crimes, and the U.S. attorney in Washington is letting a majority of those arrested just walk away.
The refusal to prosecute gun possession is particularly striking because Democrats, who run the Justice Department and the Washington government, make such a big deal of gun control. They press and press for more of what they call "gun safety" measures. But when suspects are arrested on charges of possessing firearms, they let them go. Also, remember that the Council of the District of Columbia recently passed a bill overhauling the city's criminal code in which they decreased the penalties for the most serious crimes involving guns, including murder, armed home invasion, armed carjacking, and gun possession. Why push for more "gun safety" laws when you're not going to prosecute the people who break them?
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/o...run-free-in-dc