The ACLU DC noted in a March 2022 post that it “strongly” supports a bill currently before City Council that would comprehensively modernize most offenses in the District’s criminal code. If adopted into law, this bill will be the first comprehensive revision of the D.C. Code since 1901.

The bill, titled Revised Criminal Code Act of 2021 (Bill 24-416), was introduced in October 2021 by Chairman Mendelson at the request of the Criminal Code Reform Commission. The Commission was a statutorily-designated Advisory Group that began operation October 1, 2016. In 2021 the Commission provided detailed recommendations for reforms to the D.C. criminal code.

CLICK HERE to view a summary of the Commissions recommendations.

Other supporters include the Sentencing Project who testified before the Council in support of the bill stating that it “strongly supports the Revised Criminal Code Act of 2021 (RCCA), B24-0416, because several of its features help to scale back extreme prison sentences, which are infused with racial bias and are counterproductive to public.”