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Juvenile facilities need reform, witnesses say
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Several witnesses called for reforms that they said would lower the number of juveniles in the adult jail, including ending the placement of youths in the adult jail before trial. They also called for more services for those teenagers convicted of adult charges.
In 2006 the D.C. Jail housed 12 youth under age 18 who were charged as adults. As of May 2007, that number had increased to 42.
Many of these juveniles, some as young as 15, were sent to adult jail by prosecutors and without review by a judge or court hearing, according to Michelle Tupper, a board member of the nonprofit D.C. Lawyers for Youth.
Only nine of those children received any kind of education, let alone any sort of substance abuse counseling, mental health treatment or vocation training, Tupper said. The system sets them up for failure, she said.
“The youth charged with the most serious crimes in the District and those most in need of guidance receive the least amount of services,” Tupper said. “The system sends these youth back to their communities in a significantly worse position than at the time of their arrest.”
Youth in the D.C. Jail can spend up to 23 and a half hours a day locked in their jails, spending much of their time just sleeping., according to witnesses.
D.C. Jail Director Devon Brown said the number of juvenile inmates has decreased to 32 as of Monday. He said the jail is providing the juveniles more educational and rehabilitative services than ever before.
Tupper said the increase of juveniles in the jail was not related to the Department of Youth Rehabilitative Services’ efforts to phase out group homes that house juveniles who are waiting for trial.
smccabe@dcexaminer.com
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2:41 PM MST on Thu., Apr. 24, 2008 re: "Juvenile facilities need reform, witnesses say"
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6:57 AM MST on Tue., Oct. 30, 2007
re: "Juvenile facilities need reform, witnesses say"
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Examiner Reader said:
"have been in and out of the system for prior crimes" - obviously the system its job to help them!Parens patriae where are you!"make every effort to disrupt the school so that those who want an education find it hard to do so"-aren't the teachers supposed to take care of this part. What about other authority figures in school (social workers, principal, school guard, anybody-let's get the kids services before we discard them!"continue to wreck havoc on the comunity because they feel and know as juveniles there is little or no consequence for their actions"-maybe that applies to the fact that as adolescents their brain hasn't fully developed to be able to fully understand consequences (look it up!) "no parental supervision" - many of these serious young offenders have been abused themselves (rape, physical and verbal abuse, etc)and they are supposed to turn out okay? Many learn crime from mom and dad!Yes they need to be addressed, resocialized, rehabilitated, but jail won't do that!
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Examiner Reader said:
Lets see, we need better juvenile system, hum bug, the majority of those juveniles sent to adult jail comitted serious crimes, the majority of whom have been in and out of the system for prior crimes, all were not currently in school or when they do attend make every effort to disrupt the school so that those who want an education find it hard to do so. They continue to wreck havoc on the comunity because they feel and know as juveniles there is little or no consequence for their actions, most of whom have little or no parental supervision. Mayor Fenty's next action should be to fire the head of his Juvenile system so he can take his time out system for these misfits back to where he came from. Then maybe those Juveniles bent on being thugs could see and feel the consequences of their actions.
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