Federalizing MPD, deploying the National Guard, & intensifying FBI presence in D.C. is blatant federal overreach & a stark reminder of why #DCStatehood is urgent. D.C. deserves local control to invest in what works: community-based solutions, not over-policing. #StatehoodNow

We’re thrilled to welcome Bethany Young back to DC Justice Lab as our Policy Director! 🎉 Join us in celebrating her return and the incredible work ahead. #TeamDCJL #PolicyLeadership

📣 Did you know D.C. passed a #CleanSlate law in 2022? Thanks to tireless advocates like @dcjusticelab, the Second Chance Amendment Act is now unlocking real #SecondChances for people across the District. 🧠 Learn more in our newest update! https://t.co/kCap6r08Ww

Thank you, @echoinggreen, for investing $1 million in follow-on funding to Fellow-led organizations! “This funding helps us continue our work while defending against attacks on democracy and the rule of law, in D.C. and beyond.” https://t.co/zEUwD1WVig

Black Mayors in Baltimore and Birmingham Drive Historic Drops in Crime via @WashInformer https://t.co/R3F4PX4WLU via @WashInformer

DC was among the first jurisdictions to eliminate cash bail in the early 1990s. As states look to our bail statute as the gold standard for improving public safety, it is important to perfect it and take the harmful provisions out. Now is the time to lead.

@CM_McDuffie @CMLewisGeorgeW4 @CMRobertWhiteDC @CMZParker5 @CMFrumin @CCE_for_DC .@CMRobertWhiteDC, @CMLewisGeorgeW4, and @BrianneKNadeau were absolutely right to vote against this measure. We hope that between now and 2026 there will be a hearing in which everyone--including jail residents--can explain why all of the rebuttable presumptions must go.

@CM_McDuffie @CMLewisGeorgeW4 @CMRobertWhiteDC @CMZParker5 @CMFrumin, we want to make sure you saw this report from @CCE_for_DC:

@CM_McDuffie @CMLewisGeorgeW4 @CMRobertWhiteDC @CMZParker5 keeps saying "when there is ample evidence" that someone has committed a crime... Spending some time watching arraignments and preliminary hearings might change his mind! The typical prelim is one officer who wasn't on the scene adopting an affidavit and resting.

@CM_McDuffie @CMLewisGeorgeW4 @CMRobertWhiteDC is 💯 right. The data a year from now will be a reflection of how the law was enforced and how the District recovers from the pandemic. The harms of detention will be permanent for those impacted.

Notice that it is the former prosecutors on the Council who understand the seriousness of what it means to insert a presumption of guilt into the law - @CM_McDuffie, @CMLewisGeorgeW4. They are right to insist on strong evidence that this will make the city safer. It won't.

@JudgeJeanine @CMFrumin @CMWendellFelder @CMBrookePinto again says judges can't hold someone based on the current charge, which she has to know is false. That authority exists under 23-1322(b)(2).

What the presumption does is take a tool AWAY from judges and give it to U.S. Attorney @JudgeJeanine. By charging someone with an offense that is presumptively detainable, her office can coerce more people to plead guilty. cc: @CMFrumin @CMWendellFelder

The law also explicitly requires judges to consider "The nature and seriousness of the danger to any person or the community that would be posed by the person’s release."

Councilmember @CMBrookePinto knows that it FALSE to suggest judges cannot hold people who are accused of violent crime. That authority already exists under 23-1322(a), 1322(b), and 1325(a). @SegravesNBC4, @RebeccaTurcoTV, @maustermuhle https://t.co/ABw0dS72ja

@CMCharlesAllen @CMWendellFelder @CMFrumin @CMZParker5 @chenderson @DMVBlackLives Thank you @CMLewisGeorgeW4 and @CMRobertWhiteDC for speaking for due process and the rights of those who haven't even been convicted of any crime

Spending time in #pretrialdetention is overwhelmingly negative for defendants and can lead to job loss, homelessness, and loss of child custody https://t.co/8SKVIg1ZEV

At DC Council meeting @BrianneKNadeau tells a heartbreaking story illustrating how pretrial detention can ruin lives of people trying to get on the right path & @CMRobertWhiteDC shares hard data: pretrial detention makes us LESS safe, provokes MORE crime. There's no excuse to

I have so much to share on pretrial detention.

The D.C. Council’s votes today could advance real public safety, or they could double down on failed methods that don’t keep us safe from crime or from abuse of power. Here’s what we’re watching out for. 🧵 (1/4)