DC’s AG introduces legislation to curb high juvenile recidivism rates in District

WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb on Tuesday targeted the District’s Department of Youth Rehabilitative Services with legislation to City Council to bring what he termed more accountability and transparency to the troubled agency.

In a Tuesday morning news conference, Schwalb said that too many youth who come through the agency end up committing more crimes after they leave and that better intervention plans are needed.

Schwalb also said the agency, which is under Mayor Muriel Bowser’s purview, lacks proper oversight.

“DYRS undertakes critical responsibility without enough transparency and accountability,” Schwalb said. “The data and outcomes that we do have, however, demonstrate that DYRS is not delivering the results.”

The bill is called the Recidivism Reduction Oversight and Accountability for DYRS Act or the ROAD Act.

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Schwalb’s legislation would require the agency to reform its supervision and intervention practices, mandate independent oversight apart from the mayor’s office to increase transparency and allow D.C. Superior Court to have the authority to intervene if DYRS fails in its duties.

Schwalb said that according to the mayor’s 2022 Criminal Justice Coordinating Council study, more than 92% of young people in the DYRS system get re-arrested.

“This is not acceptable,” Schwalb said.

On the day that the AG presented his bill, Council member Trayon White, the chair of the committee on recreation, libraries and youth affairs, held a virtual public safety hearing on concerns about DYRS.

Sam Abed, the director of DYRS, testified before the committee and said that the “safety of the youth that we serve and our staff our are highest priority.”

“We respond to correct mistakes, train and retrain staff and ensure accountability for violations for procedure,” he said during the hearing. “We will always be receptive to improving the policies and practices that we use to ensure that we are taking the best approach.”

But Eduardo Ferrer, the policy director of the Georgetown Juvenile Justice Initiative that has found problems with the agency, said he supports the Schwalb’s bill.

“I think the attorney general is exactly right. We’ve failed our kids at DYRS,” Ferrer said. “What needs do they have that if we address those needs, it will actually lower the likelihood that they’ll reoffend.”

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