Once in a blue moon, you run across a statistic or record that is mind-boggling. Some are amazing, like Alex Ovechkin’s 895 goals or Serena Williams’ 23 Grand Slam singles titles. But others are disturbing, like the fact that in Washington, D.C., between 2018 and 2022, only 1.7% of people arrested for carrying a pistol without a license were sentenced to prison.
This dismal record comes from the District of Columbia Sentencing Commission, which analyzed arrest and sentencing trends in the District’s Superior Court for carrying a pistol without a license.
Before unpacking how and why only 97 of the 5,558 adult arrests that contained at least one charge for carrying a firearm without a license ended up in prison, let’s step back and look at the bigger picture in the nation’s capital—the astronomical homicide rate—and connect the dots between that rate and guns.
According to the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, firearms are used in approximately 77% of all homicides in Washington, D.C. Knives come in a distant second place at 14%.
National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform figures show that 95.8% of homicide suspects in the District are male, and 96.8% of those are black. Over 70% of suspects are between 18 and 34 years old. To look at the victim numbers, 89% are male, of whom 94.1% are black. Over 62% of homicide victims are between 18 and 34 years old.
More than half of homicides in D.C. are the result of personal disputes, group-related conflicts, instant disputes, or drug-related disputes, according to the Institute.
In her letter to the Trump “D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force,” Mayor Muriel Bowser touts a 35% drop in violent crime in 2024 compared to 2023, including a 32% drop in homicides. She acknowledges that “the District still has work to do” in “making DC the safest city in the country.” Talk about an understatement!
She must believe that President Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and others are oblivious to how much higher crime rates are in D.C. compared to other cities, and how broken the system is from the inside out. Perhaps she doesn’t realize just how bad it is here in D.C.
In 2023, D.C. had a homicide rate of 40.9 homicides per 100,000 residents and ranked fourth worst in the nation behind only New Orleans (53.8), St. Louis (53.7), and Detroit (40.9). The homicide rates in the District per 100,000 residents in years past were 30 in 2022, 34 in 2021 and 29 in 2020. It was 25 or less in all the previous eight years and was as low as 14 as recently as 2012.
The homicide rate in 2024 was 27.3, according to the Center for Public Safety Initiatives at Rochester Institute of Technology. While a big drop from the 2023 spike, it still ranked fourth-worst in the country. If D.C. were a state, it would have the highest homicide rate of any state in the United States, and would be retaining that dubious title year after year.
With that background in mind, let’s unpack the Commission’s gun arrest and sentencing data from 2018 to 2022.
Of the 5,558 total arrests for carrying a pistol without a license, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia—essentially the local DA—refused to file a charge in 1,933 (34.2%) of those cases.
Why the massive drop-off from arrest to charging? Are cops making bad arrests? If so, why? Did they violate the suspect’s Fourth Amendment rights? Are the prosecutors not able to prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt?
You would think that a 34% drop-off between arrest and charging would deeply concern the prosecutor’s office. Most big city prosecutors’ offices work closely with police departments and engage in weekly or monthly trainings. But not the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office. Why not?
It’s not like these are hard cases to prove. The elements are straightforward: You can’t carry, either openly or concealed, any deadly or dangerous weapon or a pistol that is not licensed by the District. First-time offenders can be sentenced up to five years in prison. Recidivists face up to 10 years’ imprisonment.
Worse, another 1,213 (32.7%) of the original 5,558 arrests were closed without a conviction. Poof. Just gone. Why?
One clue may be the fact that the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office is woefully understaffed when it comes to in-house investigators. District attorney’s offices typically employ investigators who are assigned to line prosecutors and continue investigating cases to develop additional evidence once the police make an arrest and charges are filed against an individual.
The San Diego DA’s office, for example, has 330 prosecutors and 120 investigators, or one for every 2.3 prosecutors. The Riverside County DA’s office has 126 investigators, or one for every 1.6 prosecutors. The Los Angeles County DA’s office has 900 prosecutors and 300 investigators, but it is authorized to have up to 400.
In contrast, D.C. has 330 prosecutors and only three investigators. That’s right, three! This helps explain why cases fall apart in the District even after charges are filed.
As if that’s not frustrating enough, only 2,218 cases (39.9%) of the 5,558 arrests resulted in a conviction for any criminal offense, although 279 cases (7.5%) are still pending. Of those 2,218 convictions, 654 (29.5%) were for misdemeanors and 1,564 (70.5%) for felonies. Out of the 1,564 felony convictions, 85 defendants have yet to be sentenced. Out of the 1,479 cases in which a sentence has been imposed, only 819 contained a conviction for carrying a pistol without a license (CPWL) or its equivalent—although, in fairness, some of the defendants in the remaining 660 cases were convicted of more severe offenses.
Of those 819 CPWL felony convictions, 57.7% got sentenced to probation and 30.5% got a “split sentence,” meaning they got sentenced within the local sentencing guidelines that included a jail sentence of six months or less.
In sum, then, out of the original 5,558 individuals arrested for CPWL over a five-year period, only 97 (1.7%) were given a prison sentence for carrying a pistol without a license. Even if one assumes (although I don’t know why one would) that the 279 pending cases and 85 cases in which a sentence has not been imposed will all result in a conviction and prison sentence for a CPWL offense, the percentage would still be pitifully low.
These mind-boggling and shameful statistics expose a sclerotic criminal justice system that doesn’t take gun crimes seriously. Unless and until that happens, D.C. will remain a long way off from being the safest city in the country.
This article was originally published at www.dailysignal.com
