YJP Newsroom

November 15, 2010
Source: Washington Examiner

By: Freeman Klopott

Examiner Staff Writer

 A mother and father can't access most information the District's juvenile justice agency has on their children, the city's highest court has ruled.

The ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by two parents who cited open-records laws in asking

that the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services turn over all documents pertaining to the parents and their five children. Two of their children had been committed to DYRS in 2005 and were released in May 2007, "apparently without any prior notice" to the parents, the D.C. Court of Appeals ruling said.

When the parents filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the documents, DYRS and then the mayor's office turned the parents down. The Court of Appeals also ruled the parents could not have access to the documents. Not only does FOIA give parents "no greater rights than anyone else," but District law also does not include "parents in the list of persons for whom the confidentiality of these records is excepted."

The parents have no legal right to the bulk of the information they wanted, said at-large Councilman Phil Mendelson. He recently pushed legislation through the council that makes it easier for government agencies to share information about children, but the law does not include new rights for parents.

"The law is very specific as to what can be released and to whom," Mendelson said.

The city does give parents limited access to court records, but goes no further. One reason for that, Mendelson noted, is that DYRS gains custody -- and parents lose it -- when a child enters the system.

But the public needs access to the information inside the sealed records to hold government agencies accountable, said Matt Fraidin, a law professor at the University of the District of Columbia who focuses on child welfare issues.

Last year, The Washington Examiner reported that Shelby Lewis, a pimp who operated in Maryland and D.C., gained custody of a 12-year-old girl and then sold her into prostitution. The records on how the girl ended up in Lewis' custody are sealed. Lewis was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Nov. 1.

Parents -- and the public -- "ought to be able to know why government agencies make decisions that dramatically and profoundly affect their lives and their children's lives," Fraidin said.

 

November 9, 2010
Source: Washington Examiner

By: Freeman Klopott

Examiner Staff Writer

The Brian Betts murder and the linking of four of the District's juvenile justice agency's wards to the crime shook the political ground under the Mayor Adrian Fenty-supported reform efforts at the troubled agency, eventually leading to the reform's demise.

The Betts murder was the latest in a string of high-profile crimes allegedly committed by Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services wards. Just two weeks before the Shaw Middle School principal was found shot to death, two other DYRS wards were linked to a mass shooting on South Capitol Street that left four dead and five wounded.

On the day the teens were charged with murdering Betts, D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles ordered an investigation into DYRS. Two months later, the report that the review yielded gave Fenty grounds to throw out interim director Marc Schindler. He was replaced by Robert Hildum, the assistant attorney general in charge of the public safety division.

Two of DYRS' top officials left with Schindler. They and Schindler's predecessor, Vincent Schiraldi, had administered a five-year-long reform program focused on rehabilitating DYRS wards by placing them in community treatment programs.

Nickles' report found the program too often allowed the agency's wards to run free when the adult system would have kept them behind bars.

Since taking over the agency in late July, Hildum has focused on reigning in the system. He has been reviewing each of the agency's 900 cases with an eye toward cracking down on wards who have committed violent crimes as he has sought to punish those who have absconded from community programs.

All of these changes have met Nickles' approval, he told The Washington Examiner on Monday.

"I am supportive of the measures Robert Hildum has taken," Nickles said. "He has placed the wards under a greater degree of scrutiny."

Late last month, another DYRS ward was linked to a high-profile murder. Deandrew Hamlin, 18, was found driving the Jeep Cherokee stolen from Sue Ann Marcum's home the night she was beaten to death. Hamlin hasn't been charged with her murder, but he was participating -- under DYRS' direction -- in an outpatient Department of Mental Health program when he was arrested.



October 19, 2010
Source: Washington Post

By Tim Craig
Washington Post Staff Writer

 

Responding to a wave of high-profile District crimes involving juveniles, the D.C. Council approved sweeping legislation Monday that would allow the public to learn the names of violent criminals under age 18.
The bill, approved after months of internal debate among council members, undermines the long-standing practice of shielding the identities of youthful offenders who have not been charged as adults.
Under the legislation, which passed unanimously, complete juvenile records would still be sealed. But a juvenile's name and offense can be publicly released once that person has been convicted of a violent crime or a major property crime. Once a juvenile has been convicted, his or her personal information can be released for all subsequent arrests, even if there is no conviction for subsequent crimes.
The bill goes to Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D), who has not signaled whether he will sign it.
Council members said that the law is needed to make it easier for police and youth and social service agencies to communicate with each other as they try to stem shootings and homicides involving juveniles. In several well-publicized cases, a juvenile has been arrested for new crimes after being released from the custody of the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services.
"Our ultimate responsibility is to protect the public, and it cannot simply be to turn a blind eye to the free crime of violence," said council member David A. Catania (I-At Large). "Young people think they can act with impunity. They think there are no consequences."
Even after final approval of the bill on a voice vote, council members engaged in a heated debate about whether they were making it harder for youths to rehabilitate.
Council members Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) and Harry Thomas (D-Ward 5) pushed for an amendment that would have allowed for the public release of a juvenile's identity only after convictions for two major crimes.
Wells, backed by council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), argued that the legislation would stigmatize a young offender for life, making it difficult to find a job or get accepted into college.
Wells cited statistics that show 94 percent of youth offenders live out the rest of their lives without being convicted of another crime. He also said he worried that teenagers arrested for relatively minor offense - such as throwing snowballs or kicking a rock at someone - could be susceptible to charges of assault with a deadly weapon and subsequently identified.
Wells's amendment was defeated by a vote of 9 to 4. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray (D), the presumptive next mayor, joined the majority in voting down the amendment.
Although he preferred Wells's proposal, Mendelson said the bill as approved will make it easier for police to interact with residents about neighborhood crime.
"It means government officials . . . can't stand before a community group and say, 'I can't talk about that person,' " Mendelson said. "It's one of the things that happens now. Everyone knows Johnny . . . has a long conviction and arrest record, but they will not even admit who Johnny is."
But Matthew Fraidin, a professor at the School of Law at the University of the District of Columia, said the bill "demonizes kids" while continuing to shield the public from how the courts and DYRS oversee youth offenders.
"It's just pandering to the public without actually protecting and certainly without shining light on how DYRS is making its decisions," Fraidin said.