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Dem battles DC party over city’s violent crime surge, woke criminal code revisions: ‘I call it a failure’

December 18, 2022 | | Print Article

K. Denise Rucker Krepp, a Democrat elected as an advisory neighborhood commissioner in Washington D.C. says it’s “truly puzzling” that members of her own party in the nation’s capital want to go easy on violent criminals “in the middle of a crime surge.”

Krepp represents roughly 2,500 Capitol Hill residents, and she’s “pissed” about the many violent crimes committed in her Ward.

“We’re in the middle of a crime surge,” Krepp told Fox News. “I’ve had in the past year: Two murders, multiple armed carjackings, stabbings, shootings, and now home invasion.”

“Not good, not good at all,” she continued. “And by the way, armed carjacking in front of my house. That really pissed me off.”

While so many Democrats have called for criminal justice reform and the de-funding of police, Krepp has, for nearly a decade, been pushing for prosecutors to go tougher on criminals.

She does this with no staff, no pay, and a very determined Twitter account.

The home invasion Krepp cited took place on Thursday. Posing as FBI agents, four armed suspects allegedly used a crowbar to enter a residence in Krepp’s Ward and took off with almost $20,000 in stolen property, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.

That day, Krepp took to Twitter.

“Good morning DC Council,” she wrote. “The Revised Criminal Code which you passed last month enables the burglars who bound up my residents this morning to be released early from prison.”

“You call the bill progress,” she stated. “I call it a failure.”

The vote among the D.C. Council to revamp the city’s criminal code was unanimous.

“Among the proposed reforms were reduced maximum sentences, the elimination of nearly all mandatory minimum sentences, and expanded rights to jury trials by those accused of misdemeanors,” Fox reports.

Councilman Charles Allen argued in October that the current code, written in 1901, is racist.

“Many members of Congress in 1901 were former slave holders. When we have a criminal code like that, it welcomes bias,” he said. “We have a disproportionate, outdated hot mess of a criminal code right now.”

It is Allen who, as head of the District’s Judiciary and Public Safety Committee, is billed as one of the architects behind the legislation and “a driving force behind its passage.”

A former chief counsel to a federal agency, Krepp says provisions within the proposed legislation will rob prosecutors of tools necessary in the fight against crime.

“I really don’t understand why they just seem to be so gung ho on helping individuals who committed rape, and murder, and armed carjacking, stabbing, shootings, robberies, whatever,” she said. “It’s truly puzzling to me.”

The bill is currently awaiting the signature of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, and while she declined to tell Fox whether she intends on approving it, she has stated she is “disappointed with several provisions.”

Should she sign it, it will head to Congress.

Federal lawmakers then have 60 days to review it, and should they choose to do so, Congress can enact a joint resolution disapproving of the measure and, with President Biden’s approval, can prevent it from becoming law.

Given the Biden administration’s progressive leanings, it seems unlikely that he or Congress would do such a thing, but Krepp wrote to congressional leaders anyway, asking them to do just that.

“I asked the DC Council to amend the Revised Criminal Code Act because it creates a new right for convicted rapists – the right to petition for early release,” she tweeted Wednesday. “They said no so I’ve asked Congress to disapprove it.”

“I have found over eight years that it’s abnormal to do what I’m doing, which is being very public and expressing frustration at the situation,” Krepp told Fox News.

Thus far, she says D.C. leaders are giving her the cold shoulder.

“If they paid attention, and they acknowledged what I was doing, then they’d have to acknowledge that there’s a crime problem, and they don’t want to do that,” she said. “If you don’t ask the questions I’m asking, then you can say, everything’s great.”

While D.C. officials do acknowledge that residents don’t feel safe in the city, Krepp says it will take prosecuting the criminals if they truly want to tackle the problem.

“I think for too many years people have said, ‘oh, we’re not gonna prosecute, let’s look at stopping crimes before they happen.’ And so, that may have a role in it,” she said. “But if you don’t prosecute the individuals who’ve already committed the crimes, the folks behind them are looking and going, ‘okay, nothing happened, I’m gonna just do that myself.'”

“There’s gotta be some strong signal sent,” she continued, “and that just hasn’t happened.”

As Democrats continue to dismiss her, Krepp says help from Republicans would be welcome.

“I wrote the letter to Congress because I didn’t get any help in the council, and I don’t want to leave office knowing that a rapist could get a new right simply because the council did what it did,” she said. “I mean, I sought help. And so, if somebody is willing to help me, I don’t really care what party they belong to, I just want their help to make sure that rapists stay in jail.”

“So, if that means standing beside Republicans, happy to do it. Does that mean saying thank you to Republicans? Happy to do it,” she added. “Rapists have got to stay in jail.”

Melissa Fine
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