Talk:Crime in Washington, D.C.

message: I don't think this NYC comparison is needed here.  While it's helpful that Mr Brown added qualifications to the comparison (see below), I think the comparison should just be omitted, as the explanation I think needs to be far more nuanced.  I also don't agree with a blanket statement "the worst sections of New York were regarded as similarly violent as anywhere in D.C." — crime is highly localized to certain neighborhoods.  This is explained in the article, in regards to D.C. and how the crime patterns have shifted.  And, not all parts of D.C. were as violent as the "worst" sections of NYC (most of D.C., west of Rock Creek Park, has been generally safe all along; much safer than the "worst" sections of NYC). 
:By contrast, when New York City, with 7.3 million people at the time, hit its highest homicide count and rate with 2,245 murders in 1990, this meant a murder rate of "only" 30.66 per 100,000. It has to be said though that the worst sections of New York were regarded as similarly violent as anywhere in D.C., but due to New York's murder rate being spread across a far larger population which includes a far higher percentage of upper/middle class areas, the rates between D.C. and larger American/world cities are skewed somewhat. 
-Aude (talk | contribs) 22:02, 5 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: NYC comparison

message: ===Generally===
Adding something about the recent decisions by the Circuit Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit seems very relevant here. A 3-judge panel of the court ruled the DC gun laws unconstitutional, and the full court refused to hear the matter in May 2007 -- the District now has 90 days to decide whether to appeal to SCOTUS.croll 18:29, 6 June 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: "Those same critics also fail to point out that in Virginia where there is virtually no gun control, that crime is much lower, even in areas adjacent to the city such as Fairfax and Arlington."
As well, I think this argument is flawed, as crime rates have much more to do with socio-economic factors than anything else.  Fairfax and Arlington have very median household incomes, compared to Washington, D.C. and the national average.   A far more suitable comparison is to Richmond, Virginia, which was ranked the 9th most dangerous city in the United States  in 2005.  Despite that, I highly doubt Richmond's crime rate has anything more/less to do with gun control laws than does D.C.'s crime rate. 
Nonetheless, if reputable references backing up "those same critics", then I would consider reinserting the statement. -Aude (talk | contribs) 14:44, 11 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Your statistics source now shows the exact opposite. DC gun murder rates fell as DC gun control was slashed in 2008. DC went from estimated 0 non law enforcement gun owning households in 2008 to an estimated 10,000 today. Its gun murder rate fell about 23% since 2008. Baltimore which increased gun control had its gun murder rate rise by about 30%. Richmond in Virginia which saw  a very large  increase in gun carry, saw a decrease of about 30% since 2007. I am not saying you can for certain attribute an absolute causality, but the  data tends shows the opposite of your snapshot.Explainador (talk) 01:06, 16 May 2017 (UTC)
thread_title: Gun control laws

message: Adding something about the recent decisions by the Circuit Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit seems very relevant here. A 3-judge panel of the court ruled the DC gun laws unconstitutional, and the full court refused to hear the matter in May 2007 -- the District now has 90 days to decide whether to appeal to SCOTUS.croll 18:29, 6 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Generally

message: This statement added by 12.96.58.22 lacks any sources and has been removed:
:"Those same critics also fail to point out that in Virginia where there is virtually no gun control, that crime is much lower, even in areas adjacent to the city such as Fairfax and Arlington."
As well, I think this argument is flawed, as crime rates have much more to do with socio-economic factors than anything else.  Fairfax and Arlington have very median household incomes, compared to Washington, D.C. and the national average.   A far more suitable comparison is to Richmond, Virginia, which was ranked the 9th most dangerous city in the United States  in 2005.  Despite that, I highly doubt Richmond's crime rate has anything more/less to do with gun control laws than does D.C.'s crime rate. 
Nonetheless, if reputable references backing up "those same critics", then I would consider reinserting the statement. -Aude (talk | contribs) 14:44, 11 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Your statistics source now shows the exact opposite. DC gun murder rates fell as DC gun control was slashed in 2008. DC went from estimated 0 non law enforcement gun owning households in 2008 to an estimated 10,000 today. Its gun murder rate fell about 23% since 2008. Baltimore which increased gun control had its gun murder rate rise by about 30%. Richmond in Virginia which saw  a very large  increase in gun carry, saw a decrease of about 30% since 2007. I am not saying you can for certain attribute an absolute causality, but the  data tends shows the opposite of your snapshot.Explainador (talk) 01:06, 16 May 2017 (UTC)
thread_title: Virginia

message: What makes a crime incident notable?  It's good that the list hasn't gotten out of hand like lists of notables found in other articles, but perhaps we should define a scope now?  There have got to be hundreds or thousands of 'incidents' of crime that received alot of media coverage, such as the mugging of Supreme Court justice David Souter, or the mugging of Theresa Heinz Kerry, or the espionage cases, or the congressional approval of the iraq war... the list can go on and on.  Should we limit the list to violent crimes?  homicides? -Taco325i 17:10, 24 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Doesn't apply directly, but see Wikipedia:WikiProject_Military_history#Popular_culture for my opinion on this type of issue.  The incident needs to have a notable impact on policy or other major impact of some sort.  The list should eventually be put into more of a prose/narrative form, and incorporated into the rest of the article. --Aude (talk) 16:23, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

text: Removed material, including the list.  It's still in the history if there is anything worth incorporating. --Aude (talk) 01:51, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Notable incidents

message: This article would be improved by use of both online sources and those that are offline or available by subscription only.  An in-depth article, such as the one in The Observer, talks in great depth about the crime problems of the early 1990s, while the New York Times article only gives a brief mention about the early 1990s. Thus, it's worth using, even though it's not freely available online. --Aude (talk) 17:11, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: No worries. If we were just going to cite that fact that the city was the "murder capital", I thought the previous source would be enough. However, just exactly what is The Observer? A newspaper? If so, we should provide page numbers and a URL (if available) even if it only links to an non-free archive. Best, epicAdam(talk) 17:16, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I have re-formatted the reference, with a link.  These type of articles are available from databases such as LexisNexis or ProQuest, with search by article title, publisher, date, author, etc. --Aude (talk) 17:26, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Good stuff. I trust you, Aude. ;-) This article is already looking so much better. Thanks for the help! -epicAdam(talk) 17:42, 7 December 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: References

message: In regards to the WaPo article "D.C. Sees Sharp Drop In Federal Prosecution", as the title suggests, the article discusses a decrease in federal prosecutions in U.S. District Court only. It does not mention the drop in local prosecutions, for which the US Attorneys are also responsible, as cited in the reference provided by the DC Superior Court. If what the US Attorney says in the WaPo article is correct, and that they are indeed shifting cases from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, then there shouldn't be any decline in prosecution at the local level; in fact, you would expect to see a rise in the number of local prosecutions as more are shifted out of the US District Court. What does make sense is that budget cuts have caused the US Attorney's office to fire prosecutors, which is what I have changed the article to reflect. Best, epicAdam(talk) 06:32, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: US Attorneys

message: Is the crack epidemic the root of all crime in the history of the District of Columbia?  I remember that there were police, a drug epidemic and major problems prior to that.  Although I appreciate the impact of the crack epidemic on urban centers across the country and DC in particular, if the rubric is Crime in Washington,  the overview should maybe address the changes over the history of the city in the root of crime and the impact on its population.  Either that or change the title. 71.251.59.145 (talk) 17:02, 17 October 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: No, of course the crack epidemic was not the start. The very opening of the article explains how changing demographics (namely white flight) began a process of economic recession and neighborhood decay, which are the primary sources of crime. There should be sources that have all this type of information, I suggest you be bold and help to improve the article. Best, epicAdam(talk) 17:47, 17 October 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: Crack Epidemic

message: "Results from the ATF's Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative indicate that the percentage of imported guns involved in crimes is tied to the stringency of local firearm laws."
This is a vague statement, what does it mean? It can go either way. It seems like some liberal attempt to not offend the other liberals by not being specific, as in: the stricter the laws the higher the gun crimes.Omegadeluxesupreme (talk)
:No clue what that is trying to say. I would remove it. -epicAdam(talk) 11:17, 26 September 2012 (UTC)
thread_title: Gun laws

message: The section on gun control laws makes reference to increased gun crime being inversely proportional to the gun control laws. Can someone clarify if the gun crime figures reported include convictions for carrying firearms in public (which is seemingly not prohibited in other states/cities) or if the gun crime figures are only crimes involving the actual USE of firearms. In short, if (just suppose) guns were prohibited nationwide, and carrying them was convicted in every part of the US, would the figures here be lower then everywhere else, as opposed to the apparently higher then elsewhere figures purported? MrZoolook (talk) 13:13, 22 January 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: Looking at the data, DC's actual guns used in crime rate is significantly elevated from the mean. So even if your remove things like DC arresting and prosecuting people who have committed no crime for possession of an expended shotgun shell, its gun crime rate is very high. But violent gun crime of guns used in crime generally dropped since handguns were legalized there in 2008.Explainador (talk) 23:59, 15 May 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Gun crime, or gun use in crime? 

message: The homicide counts don't take into account population changes. The standard within criminology is to state the value as x/100,000 souls. I've created a graph of DC's homicide rates from 1960 to 2012, also including the US total homicide rate for the same period. I'm replacing the existing chart. Just an fyi. Anastrophe (talk) 05:14, 1 September 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: This whole page is badly in need of an update. Bangabandhu (talk) 00:44, 18 June 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Replacing graph of homicide counts with graph of homicide rates 

message: It may be good to find out which BOP prisons commonly hold DC inmates.
*http://www.pdsdc.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/adult-community-and-confinement-access-guide.pdf?sfvrsn=0
**Lists: FPC Alderson, FCI Allenwood, Annapolis Junction, FCI Bennettsville, USP Big Sandy, FCI Butner, FCI Beckley, FCI Coleman, FCI Danbury, FCI Cumberland, FCI Edgefield, FCI Estill, FCI Fort Dix, FCI Hazleton (Women), FCI Jesup, USP Lee, USP McCreary, FCI Petersburg, FDC Philadelphia, FCI Ray Brook, FCI Schuylkill, FMC Lexington, and FCI Williamsburg
*http://dccouncil.us/files/performance_oversight/CIC_performance_oversight_pre-hearing_questions_.pdf
**Individuals from the DC CIC traveled to: USP Allenwood, FCI Allenwood Low, USP Beaumont, FCI Fairton, FCI Manchester, USP McCreary, Rivers Correctional Institution
*http://dctaxi.dc.gov/event/cic-inspection-usp-mccreary - USP McCreary
*https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2014/dec/3/reenergized-dc-corrections-information-council-targets-jail-and-prison-conditions/ - USP McCreary
WhisperToMe (talk) 05:40, 6 February 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Prisons which commonly hold DC inmates? 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: The numbers of non law enforcement gun owners in DC are about 4,000 and law enforcement 3,000 to 5,000.  With DC gun ownership at 25.9% in peer reviewed study this means about 1 in 4 DC residents is an illegal firearms owner. I think this is notable.Explainador (talk) 04:44, 17 November 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  25.9% gun ownership with about 25% of it being illegal 

message: I updated the UCR Infobox to the 2018 numbers from the FBI.  A couple of notes:
 
* While the previous numbers were stated to be from 2016, most of them were in fact from 2014, and the reference pointed to the 2014 version of the UCR.
* I used the 2018 numbers because 2019 is still marked "preliminary" on the FBI site.
* I also updated the reference to point to 2018's UCR.
* The previous Property Crime *rate* was stated as 98,982.5; I have no idea where this number came from (it would imply one property crime for every seven residents). All property crime entries in the actual FBI UCR that I've seen are much closer to 2018's 4,373.8. (Update: it was part of an act of flat-out vandalism that went uncorrected for three years: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Crime_in_Washington,_D.C.&diff=next&oldid=767962507 )
If someone could eyeball both the reference and the page to double-check for typos, I'd appreciate it.
74.92.140.243 (talk) 17:32, 26 May 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  UCR Infobox 

message: The redirect Gun laws in the United States (by district) has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at  until a consensus is reached.  Mdewman6 (talk) 21:52, 17 June 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  "[[:Gun laws in the United States (by district)]]" listed at [[Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion|Redirects for discussion]] 

message: In November 2023, it was reported that the number of carjackings for the year so far had increased by 104% compared to the same time period during the previous year. This was attributed to repeat carjackings by serial carjackers under the age of 18, whom the city had repeatedly arrested and released. City leaders were "trying to find a solution" to this problem. Fox 5 reported that "current D.C. law makes it difficult to hold young people accountable for their actions."Rise in DC carjackings linked to repeat juvenile offenders, police data shows, Fox 5 Washington D.C., November 16, 2023, Archive
SquirrelHill1971 (talk) 19:39, 24 November 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: It was removed because of the heading your used: "Decriminalization of carjacking by people under 18". As I said in my summary, it has not been decriminalized. Your POV edits across multiple articles are a problem. If you want to add material then it needs to be neutral, accurate, and reliably sourced. Two out of three is not sufficient. Meters (talk) 20:21, 24 November 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree with Meters. It is evident that you, SquirrelHill, are not putting your personal biases aside when editing Wikipedia. – Muboshgu (talk) 20:36, 24 November 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Why was this removed?