District mulls stop to detaining youth offenders alongside adults

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - The District of Columbia is considering a bill that would keep youthful suspects out of grown-up jails while they await trial.

Legislation introduced by Democratic Councilmen Phil Mendelson and Tommy Wells would allow children charged as adults to petition the city’s courts so that they can stay out of adult jail.

Wells and Mendelson say that nearly half of teenagers charged as adults in crimes are never convicted. But their time in adult jails brutalizes them and serves as a kind of boot camp for future felons, the councilmen claim.

“It’s clear that mixing kids and adults within our justice system is a lose-lose proposition,” Mendelson told The Examiner.

The bill has broad support from youth advocates like Liz Ryan of the Campaign for Youth Justice.

“We asked for these changes,” she said. “The bill comports with the research that shows youth prosecuted as adults are more likely to re-offend.”

Support for the measure is not unanimous. Last year, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Taylor balked at a D.C. proposal that would have ended automatic transfers of juveniles to adult courts when they’re charged with some violent crimes.

The legislation may also require an act of Congress because it affects federal law, one law enforcement source told The Examiner.

Victims rights groups also worry that D.C. officials have misplaced priorities.

“Authorities should make victims’ safety and rights a priority,” said Mary Lou Leary, a former federal prosecutor and current executive director of the D.C.-based National Center for Victims of Crime. “Police and prosecutors should provide victims with a reliable and consistent point of contact and do everything possible to protect the victim — who may also be a witness — from harm.”

The bill has enthusiastic support from Brandon Forrest, 21, of the Mount Vernon Square neighborhood. When he was 16, Forrest was a stickup man. Arrested, he was thrown into the D.C. Jail for 10 months.

“Within my first week over there, I got jumped,” he said. “It was worse for other kids. People were getting [urine] thrown on them.”

He was thrown into isolation, an empty room that smelled of feces and vomit.

“It was terrible,” Forrest said. “One inmate was acting disorderly and they Maced all 10 of us. We were all choking.”

Unlike many of his jail mates, Forrest said he went straight after his ordeal. He now works with troubled kids at a D.C. nonprofit group.

“I give them a choice,” he said. “I let them know what’s ahead on the road they’re on and what happens in jail.”

bmyers@dcexaminer.com

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