Living on Capitol Hill: Crime without consequences

Crime on Capitol Hill is rampant. Rape, robbery, assault, theft, burglary, and stabbing – all of these occurred in October. But you know what didn’t happen? Prosecutions. The Department of Justice still isn’t prosecuting the crimes that are occurring on Capitol Hill and they won’t until victims are viewed as human beings instead of cases waiting to be closed.

Earlier this month, The Hill published an op-Ed I wrote entitled “Summer of simple assault.” I had hoped that by highlighting the diverted misdemeanors, DOJ would be motivated to act. Nope. They’re still sitting on the sidelines pushing papers.

{mosads}Meanwhile, the bad guys have graduated to rape and attempted murder. There were no consequences when they stole bikes, snatched phones from metro riders, or hit residents walking down the street. Why should they expect to be prosecuted for a violent offense?

One of the most horrific attacks this year was the rape that occurred last week. My neighbor was sexually assaulted at 2 pm in her Capitol Hill apartment. The suspect was caught but he hasn’t been arraigned yet leaving neighbors to question what the police and prosecutors are doing. And that’s frustrating. The longer it takes for DOJ to prosecute the suspect the longer it will take for the victim to heal.

As a former federal agency chief counsel, I remember getting into arguments with fellow lawyers regarding who “our” client was. Federal lawyers receive a government paycheck. Therefore, the assumption is that the client is the government. If crime in DC is to be properly addressed, DOJ lawyers must realize that their client isn’t another “government individual:” It’s the American people whom they are there to serve.

When a DOJ lawyer focuses solely on meeting the needs of another government individual, he or she will focus on closing cases instead of addressing the needs of victims. DOJ has a limited number of attorneys and resources so it can’t prosecute all crimes. Instead, DOJ lawyers will prosecute a few, negotiate plea deals with others, and divert the majority of the non-violent cases so that they don’t bust their budgets.

But what about the victims? Who is their advocate? Who makes sure that the prosecutors factor in what happened to them when making the decision whether or not to prosecute? I ask these questions because I don’t think rapists or others who commit violent crimes should get plea deals.

DOJ’s recently entered into a plea agreement with an individual who threatened to kill a friend of mine. He had been charged with multiple offenses, but DOJ withdrew the charge related to the threat as part of the plea deal. As a result, the protective order associated with the charge will also be withdrawn. My friend objected to the deal and DOJ told him to simply “lay low, don’t file anymore paperwork to get a civil protective order, these guys don’t care about them anyway.” DOJ then told my friend to “protect yourself.”

Huh? Have we seriously reached the point where DOJ officials are telling victims to protect themselves because they are too busy cutting deals with criminals? If so, that’s a sad state of affairs and one the House and Senate Judiciary Committees should investigate. Victims are human beings whose lives have been dramatically changed by the bad deeds of others. They are not numbers to be counted in the annual report and it’s time DOJ recognized that fact.

Rucker Krepp, a former chief council for U.S. Maritime Administration, is a D.C. advisory neighborhood commissioner.