[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 7 (Tuesday, January 12, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E33]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 INTRODUCTION OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA PROSECUTOR HOME RULE ACT OF 
                                  2021

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 12, 2021

  Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, today, I introduce the District of 
Columbia Prosecutor Home Rule Act of 2021 to give District of Columbia 
residents another important element of self-government that does not 
require statehood and is enjoyed by all other Americans, including 
those in the U.S. territories. The bill would establish a local 
prosecutor's office designated under local law to prosecute all local 
crimes in the District. Under federal law, the U.S. Attorney's Office 
for the District of Columbia, a federal entity, is responsible for 
prosecuting most local crimes committed by adults here, which is 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 a holdover from when 
the District had no home rule and that is out of place in any American 
self-governing jurisdiction. In fact, the territories of the United 
States--Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and 
the Northern Mariana Islands--have the authority to prosecute all local 
crimes in their jurisdictions. A local D.C. prosecutor is long overdue, 
placing the District behind all other U.S. jurisdictions. The goal of 
this bill is to give the District the same jurisdiction over the 
criminal matters that state, local and territorial jurisdictions 
justifiably regard as mandatory.
  Amending federal law to create a local prosecutor would be an 
important step toward our goal of achieving true self-government in the 
District. I urge my colleagues to support this important measure.

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