Washington’s Soft-on-Crime Politicians Finally Admit the Obvious — After Years of Chaos

For years, Washington, D.C. residents have been living under a reign of lawlessness, thanks to radical left policies that treat violent criminals like misunderstood victims instead of dangerous predators.

On Monday, the city’s own Councilwoman Brooke Pinto (D) made a rare admission on CNN’s The Lead — she actually agreed with U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C. Jeanine Pirro that the city’s justice system is riddled with dangerous loopholes that put violent thugs back on the streets.

Pirro, never one to mince words, laid out the problem in plain English: “The D.C. Council has given the judges the ability to give probation on shootings… youth rehabilitation, Incarceration Reduction Act, and now they want to seal records. So, if we work hard and we get a conviction, they want to wipe it out.”

In other words: commit a shooting, get probation. Steal a car at gunpoint, and your record could be wiped clean before the ink on the arrest report dries. Even teenagers armed with deadly weapons — 14, 15, 16, 17 years old — can avoid adult charges because of the city’s coddling juvenile justice laws.

When asked about this, Pinto claimed her “Secure D.C.” bill has already filled some of the gaps, raising penalties for carjackings and gun crimes. She bragged about giving judges “more discretion” and tweaking the Sentencing Commission. But residents are right to ask — why did it take this long? And why is the city still letting armed teen criminals skate by without serious consequences?

On the specific issue of trying armed juveniles as adults, Pinto dodged. She insisted “there should be accountability,” but clung to D.C.’s separate juvenile system, arguing that the U.S. Attorney can sometimes prosecute minors as adults. Translation: it still rarely happens, and the revolving door spins on.

D.C.’s violent crime crisis didn’t appear overnight — it’s the predictable result of years of “criminal justice reform” that put the rights of offenders over the safety of law-abiding citizens. Even now, when city leaders admit they’ve been wrong, they still refuse to fully embrace tough-on-crime policies like mandatory adult charges for armed juveniles.

Until the Council abandons its progressive experiments and restores real accountability, the criminals will keep running the streets — and the residents will keep paying the price.