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To lower the age at which a minor may be tried as an adult for certain criminal offenses in the District of Columbia to 14 years of age
HR 5140/S ???
Dusty Wilson
September 15, 2025
What is this bill?
HR 5140, sponsored by Brandon Gill (R-TX-26)
As the uncreative title of the bill states, this 2-page act would lower the age in which youths in DC would be charged as adults for specific crimes.
To do this, the bill would amend a pair of existing DC laws: Secs 16-2301 & 16-2307(a) of the DC Official Code.
The amendment to Sec 16-2301 would lower the definition of child from 16 to 14 for charges of “…murder, 1st degree sexual abuse, burglary in the 1st degree, robbery while armed, or assault with intent to commit any such offense.” As the bill is written, it appears that traffic offenses would also fall under this amendment as well.
The amendment to Sec 16-2307(a) would edit the guidelines to transfer a child to adult criminal prosecution. These new guidelines would:
lower the age requirement from 15 to 14 for a child charged with a felony
lower the age requirement from 16 to 14 if a child is committed to an agency or institution as a ‘delinquent child’
lower the age requirement from 18 to 14 if a person is alleged to have committed a ‘delinquent act,’ but is charged after turning 18
What makes this bill fascist?
Simply put, there is overwhelming evidence that charging children as adults is based more in cruelty than any feigned interest in public safety or rehabilitation. The evidence is so vast that, yes, I did hyperlink seven essays and studies in the intro sentence to prove my point. Not only that, but it just doesn’t work. As Health in Partnership states “several large-scale studies have found higher recidivism rates among juveniles tried and sentenced in adult court than among youth charged with similar offenses in juvenile court.” It’s also probably a coincidence that the children most likely to be charged as adults for similar crimes happen to be children of color.
Frankly, the practice is more in line with people who view jail as nothing more than punishment and, no matter the age, see atonement or rehabilitation as an impossibility. Also, if the goal is to increase the number of people in prison to ensure a healthy pipeline of free labor, then this practice is a stellar way to ensure young people have no way out once found guilty.
I’d highly recommend reading Dwayne Fatheree’s essay for the Southern Poverty Law Center entitled “Criminal Injustice: States unfairly prosecute children as adults” to get a more in depth understanding of why this practice is so cruel and abundantly fascist.
If you’re not in the mood for reading, you can also check out this amazing interview of Bianca van Heydoorn of the Youth Sentencing & Reentry Project.
Which Dems voted for it?
Did it pass?
Passed the House 225-203 on 9/16/2025