On Tuesday, Fox News’ Special Report covered the dangerous pro-criminal “criminal justice reform” bill that was vetoed by Washington D.C. Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser and subsequently overridden by the Democrat controlled council. In the so-called reforms, crimes warranting “mandatory minimum sentences will be invalid except for first-degree murder and those behind bars who’ve served 20 years or more can apply for early release. Washington D.C. already has an epidemic of violent crimes, so lessening penalties for violent criminals will only incentivize more crimes. Since this wildly insane policy was enacted by a Democrat, all three evening network newscasts ignored the story.
Instead of reporting on the D.C. council’s insane legislation, the networks wasted time on local weather reports (ABC & NBC), and a news brief on anti-American lesbian athlete Brittney Griner appearing at a Martin Luther King Day rally (CBS).
During Fox News Channel's Special Report segment on the crime bill, correspondent Mark Meredith reported that by “an overwhelming majority, today Washington, D.C. City council overrode a mayoral veto moving forward major changes to the city's criminal justice system.”
Meredith noted that even radical Bowser was opposed to the changes in the D.C. criminal code: “D.C.'s Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser is an outspoken critic of the changes. She told reporters this month, quote: ‘any time there’s a policy that reduces penalties, I think that sends the wrong message.’”
Underscoring how dangerous these changes are, Meredith noted how “D.C., like many major U.S. cities, is struggling to address a recent surge in crime from carjackings to robberies. Already this year, D.C. has recorded a 100 percent surge in homicides with 10 deaths reported in the last 17 days.”
“D.C.'s police union says the reforms will only endanger more people writing, quote: ‘the override of the mayor's veto is just another failure by the council to protect this city from violence,’ Meredith reported.
This kind of rewarding of lawlessness has already proven disastrous. In July 2021, a teen who carjacked and killed an Uber Eats driver was only sentenced to juvenile detention due to Democrat soft-on-crime policies.
The networks have a disgraceful track record of downplaying or ignoring violent crime in Democrat-run cities, for example in 2021 the three networks devoted less than an hour in three months to the rampant crime throughout the Summer of 2021.
This bias by omission from the three networks was made possible by Verizon on ABC, Allstate on CBS, and ADT on NBC. Their information is linked.
To read the relevant transcript, click “expand”:
FNC’s Special Report
1/17/2023
6:08:05 p.m. EasternMIKE EMANUEL: Tonight on America's crime crisis lawmakers here in the District of Columbia are overriding a veto from the Democratic mayor and ushering in a wide variety of criminal justice reforms. Critics say these changes will make D.C. a more dangerous place. Supporters disagree. Here is correspondent Mark Meredith.
MARK MEREDITH: By an overwhelming majority, today Washington, D.C. City council overrode a mayoral veto moving forward major changes to the city's criminal justice system.
COUNCILMAN CHARLES ALLEN: It is a long overdue overhaul of our criminal code which was first handed down to us from Congress back in 1901. Starting in 2025, under the district’s revised criminal code, people charged with misdemeanors can request a jury trial potentially prolonging criminal proceedings. All mandatory minimum sentences will be invalid except for first-degree murder and those behind bars who’ve served 20 years or more can apply for early release.
TED WILLIAMS (FORMER D.C. HOMICIDE DETECTIVE: This certainly stretches the criminal justice system.
MEREDITH: D.C.'s Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser is an outspoken critic of the changes. She told reporters this month, quote: “any time there’s a policy that reduces penalties, I think that sends the wrong message.”
D.C., like many major U.S. cities, is struggling to address a recent surge in crime from carjackings to robberies. Already this year, D.C. has recorded a 100 percent surge in homicides with 10 deaths reported in the last 17 days. Supporters of the changes say the data’s proof the status quo is failing.
COUNCILMAN ROBERT WHITE JR: We know that throwing hurt people into cages with other hurt people is not going to heal anybody.
MEREDITH: But D.C.'s police union says the reforms will only endanger more people writing, quote: “the override of the mayor's veto is just another failure by the council to protect this city from violence.”
