An amazing statistic has been circulating among people who follow crime in Washington, D.C. In 2022, the U.S. attorney in Washington, appointed by President Joe Biden, declined to prosecute 67% of all arrests in the city. That’s not 67% of all crimes committed. It’s 67% of instances in which police have identified, captured, and charged a suspect. Prosecutors just let them go.
The number, 67%, is off the charts, especially when compared with other cities with significant crime problems. In Detroit, prosecutors declined 33% of cases — and that itself was high. In Philadelphia, prosecutors declined just 4% of cases, and in Chicago, 14%, all according to numbers compiled by the Washington Post.
The U.S. attorney in Washington is Matthew Graves, appointed in 2021 by Biden. He sat for an interview with the Washington Post and remarkably tried to argue that his office is not prosecuting less serious crimes because it is focusing on more serious crimes. When it comes to the big stuff — murders, armed carjackings, assaults with intent to kill, and first-degree sexual assault — Graves told the Washington Post that his office is doing its job. In those cases, Graves said, his office prosecutes 87.9% of all arrests.
