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Mayor Bowser vetoes Revised Criminal Code in DC

On Jan. 4, Mayor Bowser vetoed the bill saying it did not make DC safer.

WASHINGTON — DC Mayor Muriel Bowser has vetoed a motion that would have updated the District's criminal code for the first time in more than 100 years. 

The revised code would have brought sweeping changes including everything from jury trials to sentencing. In Nov. 2022, the DC Council unanimously passed the code, sending the update to the mayor's office. 

On Jan. 4, Mayor Bowser vetoed the bill saying it did not make DC safer.

"A complete overhaul of our criminal code is a once-in-a-century opportunity. I believe it’s more important to get this opportunity right than to add policies & weaken penalties into what should be a bill that makes DC safer," the mayor said in a tweet Wednesday morning.

Bowser encouraged the DC Council to amend the bill to remove provisions that have created divisions within the criminal justice community, which she says make up approximately 95% of the bill. 

"I support modernizing and standardizing the District's criminal code," she said. "However, given the broad scope of the legislation and remaining divisions of the criminal justice community, I urge the Council to take more time to consider it, a sentiment I have heard echoed in the community." 

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