The Bail Project is urging the Senate to reject H.R. 5215, the D.C. Cash Bail Reform Act, which it argues would return Washington, D.C. to a system of mass pretrial detention and wealth-based incarceration, undermining decades of local progress and democratic self-governance.
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is set to review and vote on a package of bills that could strip Washington, D.C., of control over its criminal legal system, impose intrusive federal authority and deliver longer, harsher sentences, even for children.
President Trump’s executive orders targeting cashless bail have been met with strong condemnation from reform advocates, who argue that the policy is based on misinformation and fearmongering, and will lead to a return to wealth-based incarceration.
The ACLU is condemning President Trump’s executive orders aimed at dismantling Washington, D.C.’s cash bail reform, calling the actions unconstitutional, harmful to public safety, and a gift to the bail bond industry.
Washington D.C. residents are living under nightly checkpoints and constant National Guard patrols after President Donald Trump seized authority over the city’s law enforcement and declared the nation’s capital under federal control, with almost 400 people detained since the takeover last week.
President Donald Trump’s decision to deploy the U.S. National Guard in cities he labeled “public safety emergencies” is being criticized as a political stunt, with residents and officials arguing that it wastes federal resources and undermines trust in local law enforcement.
President Donald Trump has announced the National Guard will assume control of the Washington, D.C., police department for 30 days, and has suggested the effort could expand to other cities, while experts warn that criminalizing homelessness does not solve the problem and that housing and health care, not handcuffs and fines, are the solutions.
The Society of Professional Journalists and a dozen other press freedom and civil liberties organizations have sent a letter to the National Guard urging them to uphold press freedoms during their current deployment to Washington, D.C.
Despite President Trump’s claims of a rising crime emergency in Washington, D.C., data from the Council on Criminal Justice and other sources show that crime in the city has steadily declined since 2023, with violent crime hitting a 30-year low in 2024.
Radley Balko argues that Donald Trump’s federalization of Washington, D.C. is driven by projecting power rather than addressing crime, as evidenced by the fact that violent crime in D.C. has reached its lowest point in 30 years and the administration has cut security funding to D.C. by 44 percent.
California crime rates have decreased in nearly every major category since 2019, due to billions in public safety investments, according to data released by the California Department of Justice and highlighted by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser signed into law the Juvenile Curfew Emergency Amendment Act, expanding the city’s curfew to include all minors from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. daily through Aug. 31, following several teenagers being arrested for illegal fireworks, despite evidence showing curfews have little effect on reducing crime.
The DC Justice Lab, founded by law students seeking change after George Floyd’s murder, is a major force for reform in Washington, D.C., advocating for data-driven, equity-based policies and fostering the next generation of advocates to build a more just and equitable legal system.
California’s joint budget plan for fiscal year 2025–26 does not include funding for the state’s primary program to address homelessness, HHAP, and instead only includes $50 million for the Department of Housing and Community Development’s operations.