U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., Jeanine Pirro warned juveniles on Monday that they will no longer be able to get away with committing crimes in the nation’s capital.
Trump announced a federal takeover of the district’s law enforcement and the deployment of the National Guard on Monday to combat violent crime, particularly crimes committed by youth criminals. Pirro vowed at a White House press conference that the administration will change the “weak” laws on the books in D.C. to properly prosecute violent, juvenile criminals.
“What I can tell you is this, I see too much violent crime being committed by young punks who think that they can get together in gangs and cruise and beat the hell out of you or anyone else. They don’t care where they are. They can be in Dupont Circle, but they know that we can’t touch them. Why? Because the laws are weak. I can’t touch you if you’re 14, 15, 16 [or] 17 years old and you have a gun. I convict someone of shooting another person with an illegal gun on a public bus in the chest [with] intent to kill. What does the judge give him? Probation, says that you should go to college. We need to go after the D.C. Council and their absurd laws.”
“We need to get rid of this concept of ‘no cash bail,’ we need to recognize that the people who matter are the law abiding citizens and it starts today,” Pirro continued.
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Javarry Peaks, a 19-year-old who shot an individual in the chest on a Metrobus, got his entire prison sentence suspended under D.C.’s Youth Rehabilitation Act (YRA) and instead received probation. The YRA hands judges the ability to grant suspects under the age of 24 an alternative sentencing to incarceration with the exception of a murder case, which allows defendants’ to avoid jail time and have their crime shielded from public view.
After referencing this scenario, Pirro promised that the district’s violent youth will spend the appropriate time in jail and will no longer be sent to family court to do “yoga and arts and crafts.”
“Enough, it changes today,” Pirro said.
Trump’s action relates to the severe beating of Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffer Edward Coristine, also known as “Big Balls,” who intervened in the carjacking of a woman on August 5. Prior to that incident, two Israeli Embassy staffers were fatally shot outside of the Capital Jewish Museum on May 22 and 21-year-old congressional intern Eric Tarpinian-Jachym died after being shot by gang members on June 30 near a Metro station.
A total of 99 homicides have occurred in D.C. thus far in 2025, according to the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) tracker.
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