Skip to main navigation

Catalogue Blog

Is recent legislation making DC safer, and for whom? A new report by the Council for Court Excellence digs in.

Is recent legislation making DC safer, and for whom? A new report by the Council for Court Excellence digs in.

Earlier this year, the District of Columbia passed the Secure DC Omnibus Amendment Act of 2024 (“SECURE DC”) in response to an increase in violent crimes, like homicide and carjackings. This permanent legislation included changes to D.C. law that had been part of emergency legislation first passed last summer, as well as several new provisions. While the public continues to express community safety concerns, response to SECURE DC remains controversial in a city where the costs of incarceration and policing have reached over $1 billion for the first time, and where a disproportionate number of Black people are justice-involved, including as victims of crime.

The Council for Court Excellence (CCE), a local nonprofit that works to enhance the justice system in DC to serve the public equitably, just released its fourth report offering a snapshot of our criminal legal systems. Among the questions this report addresses, the two biggest are arguably: Is SECURE DC effective? And who is most impacted by DC’s justice systems?

Since this legislation passed in the Spring of this year, the impacts of these significant policy changes are not yet clear. However, CCE’s new data analyses will be critical in providing a baseline to any changes in crime and incarceration that may be related to the law’s provisions. Both before and after its passage, CCE finds several encouraging changes in preliminary public safety data, namely carjacking and fare evasion rates on the decline.

Read CCE’s full report to learn more, and visit their website to support them in creating a safer, healthier, thriving DC.


The Council for Court Excellence was founded in 1982 by a group of leaders in the civic, legal, and business sectors to support the modernization of D.C. courts. Over the next few decades, the need for an independent voice on D.C.’s criminal, youth, and civil justice systems — beyond just the courts — became clear. CCE stepped in to fill that gap, keeping their model of interdisciplinary alliance but expanding their mission to include all aspects of our justice system. Today, CCE identifies and proposes solutions by collaborating with diverse stakeholders to conduct research, advance policy, educate the public, and increase civic engagement.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>