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D.C. Cans Plan to Pay Violent Criminals

AP
May 5, 2016

The Washington, D.C. city council has decided not to follow through with a plan to pay known violent offenders to follow the law.

The Washington Post is reporting that there is a difference in the plan of Mayor Muriel Bowser and that of the council, which resulted in the plan being pulled. Under the plan, up to 50 of the most violent gun offenders in the nation's capital would be given life coaches and paid a stipend to follow the law.

Much of the plan is based on a similar program in Richmond, California. The plan in Richmond has had mixed results so far.

Homicides in 2016 are on pace to be higher than last year's with 39 homicides so far this year. 2015 was a terrible year for D.C., where homicides went up 53 percent in 2014.

According to D.C. councilmember Kenyan McDuffie, the mayor preferred a larger police response and did not completely understand what the city council was aiming for with the program.

"This is the mayor’s budget, and what we’ve done is try to improve it where we can, but it’s her budget," McDuffie said in an interview. "It’s her ideas and her strategies for preventing crime, and it’s time to see how they work; she clearly sees things differently than the 13 members of the council."