Mayor Muriel Bowser and U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro on Friday announced legislation they say will give Washington a tougher legal response to domestic violence, including stronger enforcement of protection orders and harsher penalties for repeat abusers.
The Protecting Victims Act of 2026 would make repeat violations of temporary and civil protection orders a felony, expand court authority to detain people charged with domestic violence offenses and create a new crime for certain offenses committed in the presence of a child. It would also make unlawful entry a felony when an accused offender enters a home to commit an assault.
Pirro said her office is already handling a heavy caseload. “Right now, my office has filed 90 felony strangulation cases,” she said, adding that prosecutors are on track to “file 360 before the end of the year.” She said strangulation was recategorized as a felony from a misdemeanor under the Secure D.C. Act, and that “when someone strangles an intimate partner, they’re 800% more likely to kill that person in the future.”
The announcement came as city officials seek to show they can move faster against domestic abuse after a series of recent cases that have ended in murder and suicide. Interim D.C. Police Chief Jeffery Carroll said domestic offenses are helping drive a rise in assault with dangerous weapons, which are up 36%, and pointed to a case this past Tuesday night in which a suspect shot and wounded his former girlfriend and another man before taking his own life.
Carroll said the city also wants residents to spot abuse earlier and to know where to turn for help. “We want every resident to know the signs of domestic violence and know the resources that are available,” he said. “The message to the survivors is clear: know that you are not alone.”
Natalia Otero said the proposal responds to failures that have already cost lives. “We’ve seen what happens when systems move too slowly, and what it costs survivors when patterns of violence go unaddressed,” she said, calling the legislation “a critical step in supporting survivors and saving lives.”
Pirro also said the bill would close a gap in D.C. law by creating a separate offense for domestic violence committed in the presence of a child. “We’ve got to make that a crime, because there is no question that the consequences are long-term in terms of that child learning that violence is the only way to resolve conflict in their lives based upon what they are seeing between their parents or intimate partners,” she said.
The push comes with D.C. Safe, the city’s only 24/7 crisis intervention agency for domestic violence, highlighted alongside a new public information campaign called Know DV. The bill now moves into the legislative process, with its core test whether city leaders can turn a new set of criminal penalties into faster protection for victims before another case turns deadly.