On September 16, 2025, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a sweeping package of legislation that could fundamentally reshape how youth crime is prosecuted in Washington, D.C., thrusting the city once again into the national spotlight. The move, championed by President Donald Trump and his allies in Congress, comes even as crime rates in the nation’s capital have plummeted to their lowest point in three decades—a fact that stands in stark contrast to the heated rhetoric driving the push for harsher policies.
At the heart of the legislative blitz is the so-called “DC Crimes Act,” which lowers the age at which individuals are considered youth offenders from 24 to 18 and requires that sentences for youth be at least as long as the mandatory minimums for adults. The bill, which overrides local D.C. policy, passed the House by a 240-179 vote, with 30 Democrats breaking ranks to join Republicans in support. A companion measure, the “D.C. Juvenile Sentencing Reform Act,” cleared the chamber 225-203, with eight Democrats backing the bill and one Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, standing alone in opposition to both pieces of legislation, according to The Associated Press.
Another bill now headed to the House floor would repeal Washington D.C.’s 2016 Incarceration Reduction Amendment Act. This landmark law allows individuals convicted of serious crimes as minors to petition for a sentence reduction after serving at least 15 years—a provision that has been credited with offering hope and a second chance to many who committed offenses in their youth.
Supporters of the new crackdown, such as House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, argue that the changes are necessary to ensure public safety. “In order to lower crime in our nation’s capital, we must acknowledge the threat these young people are posing to public safety,” Scalise said in a written statement. “Teenagers who commit serious and violent crimes such as murder, sexual abuse, and armed robbery must be held accountable for the pain they inflict and the danger they pose by being tried as adults.”
Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro echoed this tough-on-crime approach, telling CNN, “I know evil when I see it, no matter the age, and the violence in DC committed by young people belongs in criminal court, not family court.”
Yet these calls for more punitive measures appear at odds with the numbers. Arrests of people under 18 in D.C. have dropped by half over the past 15 years, according to The New York Times. Nationwide, youth arrests peaked in 1996 and have since declined by roughly 75%. The number of teens charged as adults each year has dropped by more than 80%, national statistics show. Despite this, President Trump has warned of “caravans of mass youth” on a “rampage through city streets at all times of the day,” and has referred to D.C. teens as “roving mobs of wild youth.”
For many, this language is eerily reminiscent of the 1990s, when sensational predictions of a so-called “superpredator” generation led to a wave of laws sending large numbers of children into adult courts and prisons. Those fears, fueled by now-discredited claims, resulted in as many as 250,000 teenagers a year being charged as adults by the early 2000s, according to the Sentencing Project. Over time, however, scientific advances in adolescent brain research and a series of Supreme Court decisions helped roll back the harshest punishments for youth, and the number of teens tried as adults plummeted.
Now, some experts and advocates worry that the new bills could reverse decades of progress. “As fabricated as these moral crises can often be, this one is setting a new standard for fabrication,” said Vincent Schiraldi, a veteran juvenile justice reformer who has led systems in D.C., Maryland, and New York City. “The more national guard troops that get called out, and the more photos of 19-year-old DOGE workers that get plastered around, that does make people afraid. It’s not good for reform and is good for ne’r-do-well moral panic-related legislation.”
The August 2025 “crime emergency” declared by President Trump brought thousands of federal agents and National Guard troops into D.C., with enforcement focused on the city’s “poorest, least white” neighborhoods. Those arrested were “overwhelmingly” young Black men, and while weapons charges were the largest category, many arrests were for minor offenses like open containers, fare evasion, and marijuana possession, according to a Washington Post analysis.
More than 93% of youth arrests in D.C. involve Black children, and Black youth are vastly over-represented among those charged as adults, the Sentencing Project reports. “The collective classification and presumptions about Black children are real,” said Georgetown law professor Kristin Henning. “You saw it in DiIulio’s language of the ‘90s and you see it in Trump’s language today.”
Democrats in Congress have pushed back fiercely against the federal intervention and the challenge to D.C.’s self-governance, which has existed under the Home Rule Act of 1973. Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas accused Trump and House Republicans of “constantly attacking what Republicans used to call a small government and deciding to be the biggest government that you can find. It’s truly shameful.” Crockett also warned that the crackdown in D.C. could be a “precursor for everything that he wants to do in other minority-led cities.”
Criminal justice advocates, too, have questioned Congress’s role in local affairs. Darby Hickey of DC Justice Lab called the move “fundamentally against American values, which state that the people get to elect their representatives, who will govern and make the laws.” Misty Thomas Zaleski, executive director of the Council for Court Excellence, pointed to a separate Republican proposal to abolish the Judicial Nomination Commission and give the president direct authority to appoint judges, bypassing a bipartisan process that has existed for five decades.
Despite the turmoil, many believe that public opinion has shifted. Robert Barton, who was released under the Incarceration Reduction Amendment Act in February 2025, testified before Congress about how advocacy and research have changed perspectives on youth justice. “There’s a deeper understanding of a juvenile’s actions now than there was back then, and more empathy towards juveniles,” he said. A 2024 survey by the Alliance for Safety and Justice found that three out of four victims of violent crime believe that creating more jobs and housing is a more effective way to reduce crime than imposing long sentences. Seven out of ten support giving judges flexibility to consider individual circumstances, and two-thirds favor investing in prevention and community programs over more enforcement and punishment.
Meanwhile, eight out of ten D.C. residents polled by The Washington Post opposed the Trump administration’s efforts to federalize the D.C. police or send troops into city streets, with the same number saying they feel safe in their neighborhoods.
Still, the impact of the crackdown is being felt. Tara Libert, executive director of the Free Minds Book Club, said the presence of National Guard troops and the heated language from the White House have changed daily life for many, especially those who have been previously incarcerated. “People are changing their behavior. They’re just going to work and coming home. The threats are very real.”
As the bills head to the Senate, where their fate is uncertain, D.C. advocates and residents are mobilizing to defend the city’s hard-won reforms. Ankit Jain, D.C.’s shadow senator, summed up the stakes: “If this succeeds, then Republicans will see that this strategy works, that they can go after a lot of the laws in blue cities and unite their party and divide the Democratic Party.”
For now, the struggle over youth justice in D.C. stands as a vivid test of American values, pitting federal power against local control, and fear-driven policy against the lessons of history and science.
