Greater Greater Washington Reports on Juvenile Crime Task Force

IMG_3468, originally uploaded by Prince of Petworth.

Greater Greater Washington wrote about Council Member Tommy Wells’ Task Force created to address Juvenile Crime in Ward 6. GGW lists the proposed initiatives:

Increase Public Transparency and Government Accountability

1. Reform the District’s confidentiality laws so the Department of Youth and Rehabilitations Services (DYRS), Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), DC Public Schools (DCPS), DC Housing Authority (DCHA), the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) and related service providers can share information about juveniles who commit crimes, especially violent crimes.
2. Mandate the creation of an interagency database assessment tool for tracking at-risk youth.
3. Make juvenile violent crime data available to the community.

Increase Meaningful Juvenile Offender Accountability

1. Streamline and strengthen the government’s ability to revoke a committed youth’s right to stay in a community placement.
2. Increase compliance with mandated community service for juveniles.

Address Truancy in DC Schools

1. Amend DC law to require families with children under 13 years of younger that miss 10 days of school without an excuse to be referred to Child Protective Services (CFSA) for investigation and/or assessment.
2. Provide truancy data to MPD, Department of Human Services, DC Housing Authority and neighborhood youth groups.

Expand Innovations for Preventing Juvenile Crime

1. Expand the WRAP-Around Model for juvenile intervention.
2. Expand the use of neighborhood volunteers for addressing gaps in youth programs in targeted neighborhoods.
3. Create a Juvenile Crime Commission and Juvenile Crime Youth-Only Commission.

Do you support these proposals?

More info from GGW found here.