Washington DC Data Landscape

• In Event: Landscape Analyses of Criminal Legal Systems: Data, Disparities, and Reform

Abstract

In March 2024, following a spike in some categories of violent crime (notably homicides and car jackings), the District of Columbia passed B-25-0345, the “Secure D.C. Omnibus” crime bill. While some considered this an appropriate response to crime and the fear of crime, others considered it a return to ineffective and harmful “tough on crime” policies of the 20th Century. In response to the passage of this sweeping legislation, The Council for Court Excellence, a civic organization based in D.C. that had been producing an annual landscape report on trends in incarceration and crime, decided to frame their 2024 report as a way to benchmark the policies included in the legislation; these included increase in the use of pretrial detention, creation of new criminal offenses such as “retail theft,” harsher sentences for some offenses, and expansion of police powers including creation of “drug free zones.” This presentation will provide an overview of the legislation’s provisions; discuss the challenges of isolating possible impacts of policies on arrests and incarceration; share how researchers identified appropriate data sources to measure these impacts; and present the data visualizations that were developed to “tell the story” of crime and punishment in the nation’s capital.

Author

• Tracy Velázquez, Council for Court Excellence