Photo by PoPville flickr user philliefan99
Via MPD, From an Andrew Fois, Office of the Attorney General, District of Columbia Government:
I think there is a fundamental misunderstanding of the law regarding the penalty structure for juvenile offenders. There is no one sentence for each crime and certainly not a two –week maximum for robbery. The possible disposition (sentence in juvenile) for any offense is the same – whether the offense is robbery, shoplifting, UUV (aka Stolen Vehicle), burglary, murder, etc. The court may place a delinquent juvenile on probation for a period of up to one year (which can be extended), or the court may commit the delinquent juvenile to DYRS for a period up to the juvenile’s 21st birthday. When the court commits a juvenile to DYRS, DYRS may place him in any number of placement types – it could be secure, a group home, the juvenile’s own home, etc. How long all this can last, of course, depends on the age of the juvenile adjudicated delinquent.
Murder?! and the punk gets home “detention” for a year or more, please!
But the end result is usually the same right? They become repeat offenders; ie it’s not working.
seriously. this statement seemed a little defensive in nature. until the council acknowledges that the current policies are not working, you may as well turn these societal dregs out the same day they’re arrested. how many kids that have be arrested and gone through probation and/or DYRS placement have changed their behavior?
What is this statement in response to? It really isn’t all that informative except for saying that the possible juvenile sentence is the same for any offence. So, you may get the same disposition for shoplifting as for murder? I can’t be reading this right or understanding this correctly?
I’m having a hard time comprehending as well. He says “there is no one sentence” then in the next sentence seems to indicate that there is.
It’s not expressed very clearly — what he should have emphasized is that the two options are probation of UP TO one year (extendable), or being “committed” to DYRS for a period UP UNTIL the person turns 21.
So it sounds like a juvenile who shoplifted could be committed to DYRS for, say, a few months, and a juvenile who murdered someone at age 16 could be committed to DYRS for the next 5 years.
(Not defending the policy, BTW. Just clarifying something that I think wasn’t all that clearly written.)
Ah, gotcha. Thanks! I wonder if the AG’s statement was ntentionally obtuse…
I posted the following in the forum here to try to address this issue. I hope others have supported my attempt to take some action.
Email to our Representatives: Stop Youth Crime in DC
I am your average Jane Q. Citizen in DC and created this page so that those concerned with the lax approach that DC takes to youth crime and violence can join together and send a clear message to our leaders that we expect them to tackle the issue and we will vote them out if they don’t. I am not affiliated with any organization.
If you want to support the cause, please:
1. Cut and paste the letter below into your personal email.
2. End the letter with your name and address. If you send the letter anonymously, it will be disregarded.
3. Email the letter to Mayor Vincent Gray, all of the Councilmembers and Congresswoman Norton’s Legislative Assistant Jason Spear by cutting and pasting the email addresses below into your email.
I tried to make this process as easy as possible and the letter clear and constructive.
To: vincent.gray@dc.gov, kbrown@dccouncil.us, mcheh@dccouncil.us, dcatania@dccouncil.us, pmendelson@dccouncil.us, mbrown@dccouncil.us, vorange@dccouncil.us, jgraham@dccouncil.us, jevans@dccouncil.us, mbowser@dccouncil.us, kmcduffie@dccouncil.us, twells@dccouncil.us, yalexander@dccouncil.us, mbarry@dccouncil.us, jason.spear@mail.house.gov
Subject: Stop Youth Crime in DC
I am writing to express my exasperation with 1.) the crime and violence being perpetrated by youth in the District of Columbia, 2.) the inability of the legal and justice systems in the District to act as a deterrent to this behavior and 3.) the seeming lack of interest and/or will by our elected leaders to address the issue, particularly by putting into place and enforcing laws, policies and procedures that protect law-abiding citizens rather than coddling thugs simply due to their age.
Although overall crime rates in the District may be falling, the number of harassments, robberies, break-ins and beatings being committed by youth in the District is much too high and taking place with disturbing regularity and in very public settings. To make matters worse, many of these crimes are going unreported, because it has become common knowledge — based in large part on statements made by the police when crimes are, in fact, reported — that little can be done to punish the offenders due to their age based on DC’s laws. It is clear that youths engaging in criminal behavior are fully aware that they operate with impunity, since the hands of law enforcment are tied and our elected leaders refuse to acknowledge or address — including through stiffer penalties — the serious problem in our midst.
District residents of all races, ages, classes, religions and sexual orientations as well as both genders continue to be victimized by these youths, and addressing their behavior will benefit all segments of society.
It is your duty to use your fully authority to ensure that District residents are safe from crime and violence, including that being committed by youths. Although I continue to support social programs, interventions and opportunities designed to assist at-risk youth, I strongly urge you to couple the current carrots of assistance with effective sticks of deterrence by strengthening our laws, regulations and policies to prevent youths who engage in criminal behavior from feeling little-to-no consequence of their actions.
I look forward to hearing your public statements on how you intend to put in place concrete measures that protect the law-abiding residents of the District by deterring the criminal behavior of some of our youth. Please be aware that silence and inaction from you on the issue of youth criminal behavior will be noticed and kept in mind during the next election.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.
Your name
Address
I saw this, Jane, and thought it was a great idea. Good for you, girl!
I emailed it in and heard back from Mary Cheh, who isn’t my Councilmember, by the way. Nothing else from anyone else. I’ve encouraged others I know to also send it in.
Will your letter accomplish anything? I don’t know, but I’m glad someone is giving something a shot.
I think you’ll have to modify your “To” list by removing Kwame Brown.
Oh, you’re right! How quickly things change!
Thanks
I’m going to have to go back to the books for this probably. I know that juveniles are not supposed to be tried as adults (and the reasoning behind it I get). However, I didn’t think that the punishments (if convicted) were slaps on the wrist. Is this only true for DC legislation. I’ll have to go check this……
16&17 yr olds can be charged with adult crimes (and sentences) under title 16
So are juveniles in the District defined as under 16 or was this a provision in the law to be able to try juveniles that are 16 & 17 as adults?
A cop spoke at a recent meeting of the Bloomingdale Citizens Association. When someone asked about the issue of some youths running wild, she said that very little could be done about it because of how the District handles underage offenders. It was pretty disheartening to have a law enforcement person tell you that you basically can’t do much about kids stealing or worse, even when there is video proof. Ultimately, nothing is going to change until citizens demand it from their leaders.
Very true.
When the Council chooses to act.
You can “demand” all you want. Until Mendo & Co. change the laws, nothing can change.
Changing the laws should be the major part of the demand.
You didn’t answer my question, I had a specific question. Maybe you don’t know and that’s fine. As to your points, do you know who specifically wrote this legislation?
Sorry, I didn’t realize that you asked me a question.
I don’t know who wrote the laws but I do know what the effectiveness of the current laws are and who has the power to change them.
er, *effectiveness of the current laws is*
It was a question to the general of PoPville, it wasn’t necessarily intended or directed to you, ‘dude. Since you were “responding” to my question, I was hoping that you or someone had an answer. There would be a difference if the District defined juveniles as under the age of 16 as opposed to a provision in the law to be able to try 16 & 17 year olds as adults. It makes a big difference in terms of how the DC legal system views juveniles. A provision in the law is the exception to the rule sort of thing whereas if the District defines juveniles as under the age of 16, that would be the rule.