The Washington Times this week published an excellent report on DYRS, the prevalence of committed youths being victims or perpetrators of murder, and the community response.
Reports the Washington Times:
More than 50 D.C. youths in the custody of the city’s juvenile justice agency either have been killed or found guilty of killing someone else over the past five years — and the majority of them had been categorized in advance as posing a “high,” “high-medium” or “medium” risk of reoffending.
Hundreds of other youths with similar risk factors remain on city streets, according to figures obtained by The Washington Times from the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS), in part because of a lack of secure facilities to hold them and because officials think confining them jeopardizes their chances for rehabilitation.Even as officials declare public safety to be their top priority, statistics provided by the agency in response to a Freedom of Information Act request show that 19 “wards” — juveniles who commit crimes and are placed in the agency’s custody — have been convicted in homicide cases since 2007. An additional 34 DYRS wards were victims of homicides over the same period.
Public perception is not all that is at stake.
Last year, the family of Neil Godleski, a Catholic University student who was killed in 2010 by a DYRS ward who had walked away from a group home, sued the District for $20 million in damages. Though the District has been dropped from that lawsuit, the group home operator, Associates for Renewal in Education Inc., remains a defendant.
Read the full story here.
