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Curious how the judicial structure works in DC. Since DC technically is a state(I could be wrong correct me if I am) but also the nation's capital, I might imagine it may work differently.
No, DC is not a state. It is a federal district administered by Congress. DC was granted home rule in 1973. Since then, it has had an elected mayor and city council. Also, its own police force and court system. Typical misdemeanors are tried in DC courts. If a federal statute were also violated, DC and federal prosecutors would decide which case to bring, which would decide which court the case would be tried in. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court and the DC Circuit Court are appellate courts. You can't be tried for anything in either of those.
There used to be all types of stuff happening in downtown DC but not so much now. Because of commercial development, gentrification and condos, downtown has and is spreading like crazy and moving out some of the undesirables that used to commit the types of crimes you mentioned.
What most people think of as downtown -- basically The Mall and PA Avenue -- is ridiculously safe. There are more police per square foot in that area than anyplace else in the country. The Downtown neighborhood -- pretty much 12th to 17th between PA and M Street, is also mostly safe, but the place clears out at night and there are a lot of homeless in the area, so you never know. Some folks include K Street out to 24th Street as downtown even though it isn't, but that area is also very safe, as tons of people are in that area every night, at least until the proverbial Last Metro.
If you want muggings, junkies, drug sales, or hustlers anymore, you really have to get out of the bright lights and off of the main drag...
Talking about the Greek restaurants, in NY it seemed the best Greek restaurants were on 8th Avenue in the 40's in NY, an area at one time that was saturated with XXX places and the undesirable elements i mentioned(hustlers, drugs, vagrants, criminals).
When I ate at the Astor restaurant in DC Dupont Circle in '79 and '80, i noticed that while there were XXX places, there were no characters on the street and the area seemed sanitized--totally different from 8th Ave in NY
And now on 8th Ave in NY while the XXX places are still there, it's more sanitized, the characters are for the most part, but so are the good Greek restaurants
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