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Website
www.brianfordc.com
Improving outcomes for justice-involved youth requires swift accountability and effective support. As Attorney General, I have prosecuted violent juvenile offenses while also working to address root causes of crime, including housing instability, unmet mental health needs, and lack of opportunity. I proposed the ROAD Act (unanimously passed by the DC Council) to ensure that youth committed to DYRS receive timely services that reduce recidivism and improve long-term outcomes. I have also established prevention initiatives such as the “Leaders of Tomorrow” grants and the #FutureMeDC social media campaign aimed at promoting safe and healthy choices. Healthy, hopeful young people are less likely to engage in crime and more likely to succeed.
My top two priorities in a second term as Attorney General will be to continue the work of protecting DC residents and safeguarding DC’s autonomy. I will remain focused on enforcing DC’s public safety laws as well as our laws protecting consumers, seniors, workers, tenants, and the environment. And, I will continue defending DC’s autonomy by challenging unlawful federal interference and ensuring DC laws are upheld in court. As an independent and elected Attorney General, I play a critical role in ensuring that decisions impacting DC residents are made by public officials accountable to DC voters.
As DC’s independent Attorney General, I have used litigation and issued formal AG opinions to defend Home Rule, and I have led and joined multistate coalitions and amicus briefs with AGs across the nation to fight back against illegal federal overreach. In August 2025, I went to court on behalf of the District and successfully blocked the federal administration’s unlawful attempt to take command and control of DC’s Metropolitan Police Department away from the Mayor and Police Chief. In a second term, I will continue ensuring that the District’s laws, such as reasonable gun control regulations, enacted through our democratic process, are zealously defended in court and that DC aggressively protects its residents’ rights and autonomy.
Strongly disagree
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Agree
Strongly agree
An effective justice system promotes both accountability and fairness, and it advances both immediate and long term public safety. In DC, the elected Attorney General has jurisdiction over juvenile offenses and certain adult misdemeanors, while most adult crimes (felonies and misdemeanors) are prosecuted by the federal U.S. Attorney who is not accountable to DC voters. I believe DC residents should be able to hold their chief prosecutor accountable at the ballot box. Expanding local prosecutorial authority would improve transparency, strengthen trust, and allow a more coordinated approach that addresses root causes of crime while ensuring swift and certain consequences when the law is broken.
As Attorney General since January 2023, I currently lead the DC Office of the Attorney General — one of the nation’s largest and most effective public law offices, overseeing hundreds of attorneys and professional staff across nine operating divisions. Prior to being elected Attorney General, I was the Vice Chairman and then Managing Partner of Venable, a national law firm, where I led hundreds of attorneys and staff professionals, as well as complex trial teams.
Education
BSBA 1991 (Georgetown University), Juris Doctorate 1994 (University of Miami)
Qualifications
Engaged in the Practice of Law since 1994
Website
https://jp4dc.com
Our city is in a crime crisis. Residents do not feel safe in their homes or neighborhoods. While the D.C. Attorney General is only responsible for prosecuting juvenile crimes and certain adult misdemeanors, I will work with the Federal U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia (who prosecutes most adult crimes) to make sure that we have a unified strategy for bringing our crime rate down. I will also work with D.C. Government agencies and departments to attack the root causes of crime such as poor education, housing insecurity and poverty so that our youth are given the tools to live a safe life and understand that the life of a criminal is not a good one. The only measure of success is a crime rate significantly lower than it is today.
1. Stopping the crime crisis.
2. Stopping the crime crisis.
3. Stopping the crime crisis.
4. Stopping the crime crisis.
5. Stopping the crime crisis.
The District of Columbia is in a crime crisis. Fighting crime is my number one, two, three, four and five priority. As Attorney General, I will make sure that my office uses every tool at its disposal to protect D.C.’s residents, which includes holding those who violate our laws (and their parents, if appropriate) responsible for their actions. There is no reason for people to feel unsafe in their homes and neighborhoods.
The Home Rule Act prevents DC from having the independence from the Federal Government that states have. One of the results of the Home Rule Act is that most adult prosecutions are undertaken by the Federal US Attorney (rather than by the elected DC Attorney General). Most DC residents would like to achieve statehood. We, as DC residents, are not in control of whether this will happen or not. Until we achieve statehood, I will work to amend the Home Rule Act to allow for the DC Attorney General to prosecute all crimes (not just juvenile crime and certain adult misdemeanors). With regard to taking action against the Federal Government, I will not be afraid of going into battle to defend DC from Federal overreach.
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Strongly agree
If the DC Government does not provide support for citizens returning from incarceration, the likelihood of that individual committing more crimes upon release is high. As Attorney General, I will work to ensure that services are provided to returning citizens with regard to employment and housing options that will help them to never return to a life of crime.
In my private practice of law, I work with numerous lawyers, paralegals and expert witnesses on a daily basis. In an office as large as the D.C. Attorney General's Office (with 250 attorneys and 300 support staff), I will ensure that I hire individuals in their subject areas to manage each of the Office's divisions.
