Pressure from DOJ (or White House), Congress, media, local DC elected officials.
More transparency (prosecution rates by crime category with breakdowns on reasons for declination) is a starting point to focus the discussion where the problems are.
Does the USAO not give a public statement as to why they do not press charges in a specific case? Knowing the specifics (lack of evidence? Procedural error by the officer?) would help us understand if there is any pattern. Absent that, it’s hard not to see these outcomes as the result of a (silent) agenda from the AG.
It’s unlikely that MPD is half as competent as other big city police departments.
I’ve seen a postulate that the USAO’s resources have been taken up by the Jan 6 cases. Is there any credence to that idea? Do they simply not have the capacity to take on misdemeanors in a timely fashion?
They will almost never discuss individual cases. They've cited evidence processing and MPD officer actions violating recent court rulings as the reason for declinations. But both of those issues were supposed to be getting better so they can't explain the drop-off in October-December.
The January 6th prosecutions are supposed to be resourced from a separate pool but we don't have data to confirm that.
It is generally Justice Department policy to avoid commenting on a decision NOT to peruse criminal charges. I can't find the specific citation on this, but was quite famously a departure when James Comey made his statement re: Clinton in 2016.
However, the USAO is supposed to document their decisions not to prosecute and those reasons are "communicated to the investigating agency involved." See the Justice Manual at 9-27.270
Yeah, there's a lot of dispute about how this happens. Some arresting officers will swear up and down that the USAO never gives them feedback while the USAO is adamant that they share this information with MPD. It's possible that there's a break down between the USAO, some liaison at MPD and the actual arresting officers. Or people aren't being completely honest.
Biden. Interestingly the decrease in prosecution rates (and apparent changes in plea bargaining practices) has been consistent under Obama, Trump and Biden appointees.
The other angle is that Graves definitely could have played the "I inherited this mess and I'm going to fix it" approach and bring DC back to its historical ~73% prosecution rate...it would have been a big accomplishment and something to support his career but there's been no sign of improvement over the last 3 months despite the optimistic rhetoric.
That's definitely what the USAO likes to point to. I'm skeptical that that explains all of the difference given how prosecution volumes clearly tracked the media schedule.
When Chinatown was in focus they were able to prosecute 92% of felonies and 75% of misdemeanors as "viable" cases in their pilot program. But they've never been able to explain why those cases were viable but MPD/courts are somehow terrible in the rest of DC.
So far the fact pattern appears to fit a "prosecutions increase when they are under pressure/scrutiny" rather than any of the structural issues they like to cite.
Really interesting read -- and a very depressing one, as a DC resident.
So how can the USAO be pushed to prosecute more -- at least on par with other US cities?
Pressure from DOJ (or White House), Congress, media, local DC elected officials.
More transparency (prosecution rates by crime category with breakdowns on reasons for declination) is a starting point to focus the discussion where the problems are.
Does the USAO not give a public statement as to why they do not press charges in a specific case? Knowing the specifics (lack of evidence? Procedural error by the officer?) would help us understand if there is any pattern. Absent that, it’s hard not to see these outcomes as the result of a (silent) agenda from the AG.
It’s unlikely that MPD is half as competent as other big city police departments.
I’ve seen a postulate that the USAO’s resources have been taken up by the Jan 6 cases. Is there any credence to that idea? Do they simply not have the capacity to take on misdemeanors in a timely fashion?
They will almost never discuss individual cases. They've cited evidence processing and MPD officer actions violating recent court rulings as the reason for declinations. But both of those issues were supposed to be getting better so they can't explain the drop-off in October-December.
The January 6th prosecutions are supposed to be resourced from a separate pool but we don't have data to confirm that.
It is generally Justice Department policy to avoid commenting on a decision NOT to peruse criminal charges. I can't find the specific citation on this, but was quite famously a departure when James Comey made his statement re: Clinton in 2016.
However, the USAO is supposed to document their decisions not to prosecute and those reasons are "communicated to the investigating agency involved." See the Justice Manual at 9-27.270
(https://www.justice.gov/jm/jm-9-27000-principles-federal-prosecution#9-27.270).
Yeah, there's a lot of dispute about how this happens. Some arresting officers will swear up and down that the USAO never gives them feedback while the USAO is adamant that they share this information with MPD. It's possible that there's a break down between the USAO, some liaison at MPD and the actual arresting officers. Or people aren't being completely honest.
Would be an interesting line of questioning for someone like the DOJ OIG or OPR.
Hello, how big a deal is this announcement from DOJ: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-surge-resources-fight-violent-crime-washington-dc
Very good analysis. Thanks for your work. Really important stuff.
Who appointed this prosecutor?
Biden. Interestingly the decrease in prosecution rates (and apparent changes in plea bargaining practices) has been consistent under Obama, Trump and Biden appointees.
The other angle is that Graves definitely could have played the "I inherited this mess and I'm going to fix it" approach and bring DC back to its historical ~73% prosecution rate...it would have been a big accomplishment and something to support his career but there's been no sign of improvement over the last 3 months despite the optimistic rhetoric.
We need a better answer at this point. Is it the courts?
That's definitely what the USAO likes to point to. I'm skeptical that that explains all of the difference given how prosecution volumes clearly tracked the media schedule.
When Chinatown was in focus they were able to prosecute 92% of felonies and 75% of misdemeanors as "viable" cases in their pilot program. But they've never been able to explain why those cases were viable but MPD/courts are somehow terrible in the rest of DC.
So far the fact pattern appears to fit a "prosecutions increase when they are under pressure/scrutiny" rather than any of the structural issues they like to cite.
Fwiw, Matt Yglesias had this example of the appeals court throwing out a gun conviction https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/1747609520002441304?s=46&t=qC6-GNlT9sq-Cv93tFO-Dw