Meet Joe Biden’s D.C. Prosecutor Who Let 56% of Arrestees off the Hook in 2023

Fifty-six percent of those arrested by the Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) in 2023 can thank U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves for being released back on the street, where many taxpayers fear for their lives.

Nominated to the position by President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate in 2021, Graves is Joe Biden’s handpicked Yale Law graduate to serve as both the local and the federal prosecutor for the nation’s capital. He is in charge of prosecuting crimes from misdemeanor drug possession to murders. He also has the capacity to prosecute federal crimes, such as financial fraud and terrorism.

Graves claims to be “committed to ensuring the fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans,” but many taxpaying residents cannot walk their dog, enjoy a local park, or pick up groceries without fear of being stabbed, robbed, or gunned down in the District, a 68-square-mile area described as a “war zone” and “the most unsafe capital city anywhere in the World.” The District currently ranks 173 in safety on a list of 182 American cities, dropping 14 spots in just one year, according to a study recently released by WalletHub.

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Much of the crime is carried out by juveniles. For instance, 65 percent of those arrested for carjacking are juveniles, according to police data. A total of 760 carjackings occurred in the first ten months of 2023.

Graves said in August his office would crack down on some crimes committed by juveniles, but his office generally does not prosecute them. Because the D.C. juvenile court maintains jurisdiction over delinquent acts, prosecutors in juvenile court must file a petition to transfer juveniles to criminal court for prosecution as an adult. The U.S. Attorney’s Office then prosecutes the juveniles in the adult system from a statutory list of serious crimes. Graves has the first right of refusal to accept the petitioned case.

Graves’ failure to crack down on juvenile crime is a snapshot of his broader soft-on-crime position. Joe Biden’s hand-selected prosecutor failed to prosecute 67 percent of those arrested by police in 2022. In 2023, Graves decided not to prosecute 56 percent of those arrested.

Graves’ track record in court prosecuting cases before the D.C. Court of Appeals is not much better, he admitted in October while blaming the court with a majority of Democrat-appointed justices. The D.C. Court of Appeals is made up of nine justices appointed by Democrat presidents and five appointed by Republican presidents. Joe Biden personally appointed three.

“We lost 75% of cases where the D.C. Court of Appeals were analyzing these sorts of issues of patting down individuals who were suspected of having firearms or otherwise asking them for their consent to search,” Graves told WUSA9:

I think the judges are interpreting the Constitution as they see it. I can tell you what we’re seeing in these opinions are … really thinking through what it looks like for someone to give meaningful consent to search, what it means for there to be suspicion that someone might have a firearm was enough for law enforcement to pat individuals down and what we’ve seen is that the bar has moved from where it was, certainly, when I was practicing in Superior Court on a day-to-day basis 15 to 20 years ago.

“Right now it is probably the most unsafe capital city anywhere in the World,” he added.