[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 31 (Tuesday, February 24, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E235]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




INTRODUCTION OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA LOCAL PROSECUTOR ESTABLISHMENT 
                              ACT OF 2015

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                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 24, 2015

  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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