D.C. attackers go free, showing limits of crime crackdown

District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Kendra Briggs was quite understanding with the 15-year-old who had pepper-sprayed a man while a friend pummeled him, and while others in her group tried to steal his car. The young perpetrator has had a difficult life, Briggs noted. “I know you are not unfamiliar to trauma,” the judge said. “I don’t disagree that the trauma you’ve already suffered in life is kind of how you ended up on U Street that day.”