D.C. Residents Should Still Care About the Revised Criminal Code Act of 2022

Published in Washington City Paper (July 28, 2023)

The source of much political controversy this past legislative session, the D.C. Council’s Revised Criminal Code was the result of years of revisions done by the Council-established Criminal Code Reform Commission to update existing criminal sentencing laws, making them more relevant and just. The currently enforced D.C. criminal code has not been revised since 1901, when it was originally created by Congress. Most states in the U.S. redrafted their criminal statutes after the American Law Institute introduced the Model Penal Code in 1962. D.C. did not, meaning not only are the current statutes outdated, they are also some of the harshest and longest sentencing laws in the country.