Introduction of the District of Columbia Local Prosecutor Establishment Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, today, I introduce the District of Columbia
Local Prosecutor Establishment Act of 2015, to give District of
Columbia residents another element of the self-government enjoyed by
all other American citizens. The bill would establish a local
prosecutor's office designated under local law, to prosecute all local
crimes in the District. Under the Home Rule Act, the U.S. Attorney's
Office for the District of Columbia, a federal entity, is responsible
for prosecuting most local crimes here, the greater part of its
caseload, in addition to prosecuting federal crimes. This bill is
special because it effectuates a 2002 advisory referendum, approved by
82 percent of D.C. voters, to create a local prosecutor's office.

There is no law enforcement issue of greater importance to D.C.
residents on which they have less say than the prosecution of local
crimes here. A U.S. Attorney has no business prosecuting the local
crimes of a jurisdiction, an anachronism that is out of place in any
American self-governing jurisdiction. The goal of the legislation is to
give the District the same jurisdiction over the criminal justice
matters that state and local jurisdictions justifiably regard as
mandatory. The U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia would
continue to handle federal matters, like the other U.S. Attorneys in
our country. As presently constituted, the U.S. Attorney's Office for
the District of Columbia is the largest in the country, only because it
also serves as the local city prosecutor. The U.S. Attorney for the
District of Columbia needs to be freed up to handle national security
and other vital federal cases, particularly in the post-9/11 nation's
capital.

Amending the Home Rule Act to create a local prosecutor would be an
important step toward our goal of achieving true self-government. I
urge my colleagues to support this important measure.

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