DC lawmaker who championed criminal justice reform effort nixed by GOP House now faces recall

The District of Columbia lawmaker who led the failed effort to reform the city's criminal justice system amid a crime wave is now facing and unprecedented recall effort.

The lawmaker, Democrat Council member Charles Allen, was chairman of the council's Judiciary Committee when the criminal code reform effort was proposed last year and shepherded the measure to a vote, according to Axios.

However, Congress, which has oversight over D.C., passed a resolution of disapproval last year, with bipartisan support, to block the implementation of the bill, which included the elimination of most mandatory sentences and  lower penalties for such violent offenses as carjackings and robberies.

President Biden, a Democrat, in March 2023, signed into law the legislation that overturned the bill.

The recall effort is being led by former federal government Jennifer Squires, who last month formed a recall committee for Allen.  

Squires has lived with her family on Capitol Hill since 2000 and told Axios the city's crime rate is "shocking," pointing to four people being killed near one elementary school in March of last year. 

A recall election has never been held for a D.C. council member. And if the effort succeed, it could be another case of a liberal-leaning U.S. city opposing so-called progressive criminal justice policies.

In 2022, San Francisco residents recalled progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin amid an increase in some crime and a decline in quality of life, including property crime, homelessness, substance abuse and violence against Asian Americans.

There were 274 murders last year in D.C., the most annually in the nation's capital in roughly 26 years.

"I don't think Mr. Allen gets it," Squires told Axios.

Said Allen: "I never take the support of my neighbors for granted, but I also know I share their values and provide leadership they're proud of."