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Citing rising crime in and around District transit stops, D.C. Council members have proposed a new 50-foot “safety zone” where virtually any crime committed would carry extra jail time and civil penalties.
The measure seeks to deter crimes “where we know people are proven to be targets,” said Ward 5 Councilman Harry Thomas Jr., who co-introduced the bill Tuesday with at-large Councilman Michael Brown. Criminals “prey on these persons who go back and forth using our public transportation system,” he said.
According to Metro Transit Police statistics, there were 1,363 serious crimes reported January through September compared with 1,285 last year. Crime numbers are up more than 75 percent since 2005. The Gallery Place, Anacostia and Metro Center stations, in that order, recorded the most non-vehicle crimes January through September, according to Metro.
Larcenies and motor vehicle thefts are down this year compared with last and aggravated assaults are virtually the same. But robberies are up, from 429 in 2008 to 605 during the same period in 2009.
Those numbers generally do not include crimes at and near the city’s 3,488 bus stops, which are usually reported to D.C. police, rather than transit authorities.
The 50-foot safety zones would encompass all “mass transit stops,” defined in the bill as “any gathering place for the express use for publicly or privately owned or operated commercial vehicles” that carry six or more passengers.
A person who commits a serious crime, like assault, robbery or rape, within the zone faces 1.5 times the maximum fine for that act and 1.5 times the maximum prison sentence. Larceny, motor vehicle theft and attempted motor vehicle theft also are subject to the extra penalties.
Thomas and Brown said the safety zone may be expanded to 100 feet. “It’s like that zone of safety around schools,” Brown said. “There’s no reason not to expand that safety zone, to give people a sense of comfort.”
Brian Walsh, senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, disagreed. Criminal law should focus on the “wrongfulness” of the conduct, the criminal intent and even the vulnerability of the victim, he said, citing enhanced penalties for crimes against children, the elderly or the infirm.
Wrongfulness does not increase, Walsh said, simply because the crime is committed in a transit zone versus the average street corner.
“It is a misuse of the criminal law to add severe penalties without thinking twice about what the fundamental conduct is that is supposed to be criminalized,” he said.
Metro police “would support any type of legislation that helps us support our mission,” Deputy Chief Jeff Delinski said.
The council, in prior years, has adopted enhanced penalties for violent crimes against minors and transit officers and for threatening, stalking or assaulting public officials and their families. Councilman Phil Mendelson, chairman of the public safety committee, shepherded each of those bills through the council, but he did not co-sponsor the newest safety zone measure.
