Audrey Baker / July 17, 2023

Washington’s Crime Problem

D.C. leaders are struggling to deal with a wave of violence.

Policy

Mayor Muriel Bowser holds a press conference to address the recent uprise in violent crime, on July 10 in Washington, DC.

Mayor Muriel Bowser talks during a press conference to address the recent uprise in violent crime in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

While homicide numbers are on the decline in most major cities like Philadelphia, New York, and Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., is trending in the opposite direction. On July 3, a former Army interpreter who escaped from Afghanistan in 2021 was fatally shot in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. Four more people were killed on the Fourth of July, and a mass shooting at an Independence Day celebration injured nine.