Donald Trump Wants to Change D.C. Laws to Punish Teenagers for Serious Crimes

In Washington, D.C., most convicted criminals under the age of 18 are tried in a court as a minor. However, per the Interstate Commission for Juveniles, more serious crimes or felonies can cause a 16-year-old to be transferred to adult court. Despite those laws in place, Donald Trump made comments about the age of consent and the changes he wants to make in D.C. to be able to convict teenagers with serious offenses as adults.

According to a post that Trump made on Truth Social, he wants more laws regarding convicting kids as young as 14 if their crime is serious enough to warrant a transfer to the adult court system. This would mean a 14-year-old could be tried as an adult, which would, according to Trump's post, change the legal age of conviction in a big way.

In his Truth Social post, Trump wrote that because the crime in D.C. is "totally out of control," he wants the law to change to be able to prosecute and incarcerate those with more serious offenses. According to him, it's the "youths" of the city who are to blame, with some as young as 14 years old. Despite the law already in place about 16-year-olds having the potential to be tried as adults, Trump appears to want that age changed.

"They are not afraid of law enforcement because they know nothing ever happens to them, but it's going to happen now!" Trump wrote in his post. "The law in D.C. must be changed to prosecute these 'minors' as adults, and lock them up for a long time, starting at age 14. The most recent victim was beaten mercilessly by local thugs. Washington, D.C. must be safe, clean, and beautiful for all Americans and, importantly, for the world to see."

Per The Hill, Trump's comments about the age change in D.C. are about an alleged gang attack on a former employee at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Elon Musk claimed in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that the former employee saw a woman being attacked and tried to intervene, but he was then beaten.

Trump's age of consent comment regarding crimes also brought to light other comments Trump made about the age of consent. In a 2006 interview on The Howard Stern Show, per CNN, Trump was asked about dating women after the age of 35. At the time, he called 30 "the perfect age" for a woman.

When Stern asked Trump if he had an "age limit," Trump replied, "No, I have no age — I mean, I have [an] age limit. I don't want to be like Congressman Foley, with, you know, 12-year-olds."

The comment referenced the then-controversy surrounding former congressman Mark Foley being accused of sending inappropriate images to teenagers who were, at the time, Capitol Hill pages. Trump's comment went unnoticed after a while, but with his claims about alleged teenage criminals in D.C., it was brought to the public's attention again.