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S 2686
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DC CRIMES Act

To limit youth offender status in the District of Columbia to individuals 18 years of age or younger, to direct the Attorney General for the District of Columbia to establish and operate a publicly accessible website containing updated statistics on juvenile crime in the District of Columbia, to amend the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to prohibit the Council of the District of Columbia from enacting changes to existing criminal liability sentences, and for other purposes.

Introduced Sep 2, 2025

Latest action (Sep 2, 2025) Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

Summary

This bill changes Washington DC's juvenile justice system by narrowing the definition of "youth offender" from individuals 24 years old or younger to only those 18 years old or younger. The bill removes a provision that allowed judges to issue sentences below mandatory minimum terms in DC. The bill requires the DC Attorney General to establish and operate a public website with monthly-updated statistics on juvenile crime, including arrest numbers broken down by age, race, sex, and crime type; prosecution and sentencing outcomes; and the percentage of juveniles tried as adults. The website must maintain historical data in machine-readable format while excluding personally identifiable information. The bill also prohibits the DC Council from changing existing mandatory minimum sentences or criminal sentencing guidelines without congressional approval.

AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.

Sponsor (1)

Actions (2)

  1. Sep 2, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. · senate
  2. Sep 2, 2025 Introduced in Senate

Similar bills (6)

Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.

Full text

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

September 2, 2025

Mr. Banks (for himself, Mr. Cotton, Mr. Cassidy, Mr. Sheehy, Mr. Budd, and Mr. Hagerty) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

A BILL

To limit youth offender status in the District of Columbia to individuals 18 years of age or younger, to direct the Attorney General for the District of Columbia to establish and operate a publicly accessible website containing updated statistics on juvenile crime in the District of Columbia, to amend the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to prohibit the Council of the District of Columbia from enacting changes to existing criminal liability sentences, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the “DC Criminal Reforms to Immediately Make Everyone Safe Act” or the “DC CRIMES Act”.

SEC. 2. YOUTH OFFENDERS.

(a) Limiting Youth Offender Status in District of Columbia to Individuals 18 Years of Age or Younger.—

(1) Limitation.—Section 2(6) of the Youth Rehabilitation Amendment Act of 1985 (sec. 24-901(6), D.C. Official Code) is amended by striking “24 years of age or younger” and inserting “18 years of age or younger”.

(2) Conforming amendments.—

(A) Repeal consideration of individuals 18 through 24 years of age in strategic plan for facilities, treatment, and services.—Section 3(a-1) of such Act (sec. 24-902(a-1), D.C. Official Code) is amended by striking paragraph (3).

(B) Community service for individuals under order of probation.—Section 4(a)(2) of such Act (sec. 24- 903(a)(2), D.C. Official Code) is amended by striking “15 to 24 years of age” and inserting “15 to 18 years of age”.

(b) Prohibiting Issuance of Sentence Less Than Mandatory-Minimum Term.—Section 4(b) of such Act (sec. 24-903(b), D.C. Official Code) is amended—

(1) by striking paragraph (2); and

(2) by redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph (2).

SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT AND OPERATION OF WEBSITE ON DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA JUVENILE CRIME STATISTICS.

(a) Establishment and Operation.—

(1) In general.—Subchapter I of chapter 23 of title 16, District of Columbia Official Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new section: “Sec. 16-2340.01. Website of updated statistics on juvenile crime

“(a) Establishment and Operation of Website.—The Attorney General for the District of Columbia shall establish and operate a publicly accessible website that contains data on juvenile crime in the District of Columbia, including each of the following statistical measures:

“(1) The total number of juveniles arrested each year.

“(2) The total number and percentage of juveniles arrested each year, broken down by age, race, and sex.

“(3) Of the total number of juveniles arrested each year, the total number and percentage arrested for petty crime, including the following crimes:

“(A) Vandalism.

“(B) Theft.

“(C) Shoplifting.

“(4) Of the total number of juveniles arrested each year, the total number and percentage arrested for a crime of violence (as defined in section 23-1331(4)).

“(5) Of the total number of juveniles arrested each year, the total number and percentage who were arrested for their first offense.

“(6) Of the total number of juveniles arrested each year, the total number and percentage who had been arrested previously.

“(7) Of the total number of juveniles arrested each year who had been arrested previously—

“(A) the total number of previous arrests; and

“(B) the percentage of juveniles who had 1, 2, 3, or more than 3 previous arrests.

“(8) Of the total number of juveniles arrested each year, the declination rate for prosecutions by the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia.

“(9) Of the total number of juveniles sentenced each year, the number and percentage who were tried as adults.

“(10) Of the total number of juveniles prosecuted each year, the number and percentage who were not sentenced, who were sentenced to a misdemeanor, and who were sentenced to a felony.

“(11) Of the total number of juveniles sentenced each year, the number and percentage of juveniles sentenced to—

“(A) 0 to 3 months;

“(B) 4 to 6 months;

“(C) 6 to 12 months;

“(D) 12 to 24 months; or

“(E) not less than 24 months.

“(b) Updates.—The Attorney General shall update the information contained on the website established under subsection (a) on a monthly basis.

“(c) Maintaining Archive of Information.—The Attorney General shall ensure that the information contained on the website established under subsection (a) is archived appropriately to provide indefinite public access to historical data of juvenile arrests and prosecutions.

“(d) Format.—The Attorney General shall ensure that the information contained on the website established under subsection (a), including historical data described in subsection (c), is available in a machine-readable format available for bulk download.

“(e) Prohibiting Disclosure of Personally Identifiable Information.—In carrying out this section, the Attorney General shall ensure that the website established under subsection (a) does not include the personally identifiable information of any juvenile.

“(f) Definitions.—In this section—

“(1) the term ‘crime’ has the meaning given the term ‘offense’ in section 23-1331(2); and

“(2) the term ‘juvenile’ has the meaning given the term ‘youth offender’ in section 2(6) of the Youth Rehabilitation Amendment Act of 1985 (sec. 24-901(6), D.C. Official Code).”.

(2) Technical and conforming amendment.—The table of contents for chapter 23 of title 16, District of Columbia Official Code, is amended by inserting after the section designation relating to section 16-2340 the following:

“16-2340.01. Website of updated statistics on juvenile crime.”.

(b) Conforming Amendments Relating to Authorized Release of Information.—

(1) Juvenile case records of family court.—Section 16- 2331, District of Columbia Official Code, is amended—

(A) by redesignating subsection (i) as subsection

(j); and

(B) by inserting after subsection (h-2) the following new subsection:

“(i) Notwithstanding subsection (b) of this section, the Attorney General may inspect juvenile case records for purposes of the website established and operated under section 16-2340.01.”.

(2) Juvenile social records of family court.—Section 16- 2332, District of Columbia Official Code, is amended—

(A) by redesignating subsection (h) as subsection

(i); and

(B) by inserting after subsection (g) the following new subsection:

“(h) Notwithstanding subsection (b) of this section, the Attorney General may inspect juvenile social records for purposes of the website established and operated under section 16-2340.01.”.

(3) Police and other law enforcement records.—Section 16- 2333, District of Columbia Official Code, is amended—

(A) by redesignating subsection (g) as subsection

(h); and

(B) by inserting after subsection (f) the following new subsection:

“(g) Notwithstanding subsection (a) of this section, the Attorney General may inspect law enforcement records and files concerning a child for purposes of the website established and operated under section 16-2340.01.”.

(c) Effective Date.—The Attorney General for the District of Columbia shall establish the website under section 16-2340.01, District of Columbia Official Code, as added by subsection (a), not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 4. PROHIBITING COUNCIL FROM ENACTING CHANGES TO EXISTING CRIMINAL SENTENCES.

Section 602(a) of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act (sec. 1- 206.02(a), D.C. Official Code) is amended—

(1) in paragraph (9), by striking “or” at the end;

(2) in paragraph (10), by striking the period at the end and inserting “; or”; and

(3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:

“(11) enact any act, resolution, or rule to change any mandatory minimum sentence or criminal sentencing guideline in effect on the date of the enactment of the DC CRIMES Act.”. <all>

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