00:00I wonder if you could specifically speak to some of the concerns that U.S. Attorney Puro has raised about her perception of lenient sentencing for youth charged with violent crimes. Do you think that's an issue? And as she suggests, potentially charging in some instances, prosecuting youth as adults, is that a potential solution or do you agree with that?
00:20Well, the U.S. Attorney has the ability to prosecute youth for some crimes as adults, and I think she's interested in expanding that and possibly lowering the age.
00:34What I committed to her to do was look at all of what's allowable in the law now, the types of crimes, working with the council, and working on some changes.
00:45So do you agree with her, though, that that needs to be expanded, or do you think that is an unhelpful solution?
00:50I don't want to say right now, because that could mean a lot of things. We want to really analyze what we think would keep us safer, the link to crime.
01:03I will say this, and some of you are new to covering us and covering these issues, but I have been, in my tenure of service, very pro-accountability.
01:18Okay? I am an accountability mayor. If you commit a crime in the district with a gun, there has to be accountability, and that's if you are an adult or if you are a juvenile.
01:33I don't think we always have that accountability. I think what was missing from the press conference a little bit earlier, however, is what people also don't know about the district.
01:46Our prosecutors are not local. Okay? They don't get elected by anybody here. They don't report to any of us. They are appointed by the president.
01:57We've also had a period of time where some of the very good police arrests that have been made were not prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
02:08So, the prosecution is a federal element. Judges are appointed by the president of the United States as well. And so, those are not local judges. They don't report to any of us. So, that is a part of the federal system.
02:25So, any time we talk about crime in the district, it is part local and part federal that can make changes.
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