[[link removed]]
Dear John,
Yesterday the District of Columbia made history.
The DC Council unanimously passed the Revised Criminal Code of 2022 (RCCA), a sweeping modernization of the District’s criminal laws. The RCCA positions the District as a national leader in sentencing reform and models how legislatures can reduce extreme sentences.
The RCCA’s reforms include:
*
Eliminating
almost
all
mandatory
minimum
sentences
*
Lowering
the
maximum
sentence
possible
to
45
years
in
prison
*
Expanding
DC’s
current
second
look
law,
which
allows
people
who
committed
a
crime
below
the
age
of
25
to
petition
for
resentencing
after
serving
15
years,
to
allow
judges
to
consider
resentencing
after
20
years
of
imprisonment
for
people
who
were
older
at
the
time
of
the
crime
*
Reducing
the
scope
and
maximum
penalty
for
felony
murder,
a
law
that
holds
people
liable
for
murder
if
they
participated
in
a
felony
that
resulted
in
someone’s
unintentional
death
People are worried about crime and they want to feel safe. But as the Council recognized yesterday, extreme sentences aren’t the answer. Washingtonians deserve real solutions that save lives, protect kids, strengthen families, advance racial justice, and empower communities – not more mass incarceration. We applaud the Council’s leadership and we urge Mayor Bowser to swiftly sign the RCCA into law. If enacted, implementation of the RCCA’s provisions would gradually occur over the next three years.
More reforms are needed to curb extreme sentences and racial injustice in the District, but the RCCA is a remarkable achievement and the product of years of advocacy, research, and negotiation. It offers hope as we fight nationwide to end all mandatory minimums, create universal second look after 10 years, limit sentence maximums to 20 years, and repeal felony murder laws.
Our full letter [[link removed].] in support of the RCCA is available here. [[link removed].]
[[link removed]] Liz Komar
Sentencing Reform Counsel
Email: [email protected] [[email protected]]
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1705 DeSales St. NW
8th Fl
Washington, DC 20036
United States
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