D.C. Wants to Pay Criminals to Stay Out of Trouble
The Washington D.C. council has put forth a measure that the city would pay its 50 most troubles young residents to stay out of trouble. The measure states that if they stick with programs to turn their lives around, they can make as much as $9,000.
Most participants would be those who have committed offenses involving firearms and who D.C. police think are likely to resort to gun violence again. With a 54% spike in homicides in the D.C. area they hope this program will help.
The offenders would only be paid if they keep up attendance with programs in behavioral health, education and job training. The bill would also include expanded job training and community outreach programs along with police training and oversight. The total cost over the next four years would reach $25 million.
The proposed experiment is seen by many as risky and has caused a rift between the council and Mayor Muriel E. Bowser, who continues to lobby for a more traditional, tough-on-crime response to last year’s homicide increase. She has been pressing the council ahead of a final vote next month to give law enforcement officers more powers to conduct warrantless searches of former violent offenders and their homes.
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