D.C. police form new unit of detectives to focus on youth crime

Washington Post

03-04-2025

D.C. police are launching a new unit focused on youth crime, officials said Thursday, bringing detectives and investigators across the city together to strengthen the department's approach to juvenile justice even as offenses involving young people recede from pandemic levels.
D.C. Police Chief Pamela A. Smith said at a news conference that the initiative is part of a broader focus on young people that seeks to reduce recidivism, which is the rate at which those who have been arrested commit additional crimes.
'We will focus on those who repeatedly offend,' said Smith, who was joined by D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D). Smith noted that a relatively small group of young people are involved in the city's crime.
Carjackings, an offense for which young people make up a disproportionate number of those arrested, are down 50 percent from last year. Violent crime, too is down after a steep spike in 2023, though violent acts involving children as young as 12 continue to capture headlines and draw public concern in the District.
President Donald Trump's appointee to lead the D.C. U.S. attorney's office, which does not oversee most youth crimes, has pledged to be more aggressive in prosecuting as adults some 16- and 17-year-olds charged with murder, rape, armed robbery or other serious crimes than his Biden-appointed predecessor, who did opt to prosecute some juveniles charged with carjackings and other violent crimes. In the District, the Office of the Attorney General is responsible for prosecuting most crimes committed by young people under 18.
Smith said the initiative's success would be measured by analyzing recidivism rates, and in response to questions she said the idea predated the Trump administration.
Consolidating detectives and investigators into one youth-focused unit will help them coordinate and continue to solve more crimes, she said, allowing the department to reenergize partnerships with the other D.C. agencies that deal with young people. Among them are the Child and Family Services Agency and the city's troubled Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, which is facing a legal challenge over its treatment of young people. The goal of these partnerships, Smith said, is to have many points of contact with young people past the point of their arrests.
'My commitment, along with that of this police department, has been to uplift and guide our youth toward education and success,' Smith said. To grassroots organizations serving kids in D.C., Smith said, 'we want to partner with you.'
The Juvenile Investigative Response Unit will start by the end of April, she said.
Gabe Shoglow-Rubenstein, a spokesman for the Office of the Attorney General, said in a text message that the office 'support[s] MPD's efforts to improve coordination and the quality of evidence that it presents to our office so that we can prosecute juvenile cases effectively.'
After increasing in 2022 and 2023 — years that saw rising carjackings involving teens and a tragic increase in young homicide victims — youth arrests in D.C. dropped by 19 percent last year and have continued to fall well below pre-pandemic levels in 2025, according to data from the D.C.'s Criminal Justice Coordinating Council. Smith on Thursday cited drops in crime but said the problem of youth crime still merited focus; she said police had seen an uptick in fights at D.C. schools this year, along with an increase in 'more serious criminal offenses outside school,' though she could not immediately provide specifics on the increases. D.C. officials have also expressed alarm at a pattern of repeat offenses among young people; a D.C. police spokesman said Thursday that nearly 200 of the youth arrested on violent charges last year had previously been arrested for a violent crime.
Carjackings this year are also down 50 percent over last year, according to D.C. police data. The city has recorded two youth homicide victims this year, according to a Washington Post analysis.
Bowser on Thursday applauded the drop in crime as she acknowledged the need to double down on youth.
'These are not just statistics — these are saved lives, families who are more protected and communities gaining peace of mind,' she said. 'The chief and I know there's more work to do, especially when it comes to young people.'
Youth defense attorneys and other advocates have been sounding the alarm about a lack of coordination in D.C.'s juvenile justice system, particularly at D.C.'s Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, which is responsible for detaining young people accused of crimes and overseeing their rehabilitation after they are found guilty. A class-action lawsuit filed by D.C.'s Public Defender Services and American Civil Liberties Union last year alleged that some young people were languishing in D.C.'s youth detention center for as long as five months to a year without receiving proper rehabilitation and mental health treatment.
In response to concerns about the agency's rehabilitation planning, the D.C. Council passed legislation directing more oversight of the agency's performance and setting stricter deadlines for the agency to produce risk needs assessments, rehabilitation plans and reentry plans for young people. Bowser opposed the legislation, arguing its requirements were 'costly, burdensome, and unreasonable.'
On Thursday, she emphasized her belief that D.C.'s juvenile justice system is rehabilitative at its core, arguing that young people who get arrested are better off in the District's custody.
'Our system is a rehabilitative system,' Bowser said. 'We'd rather have them in our care than out to commit a more serious crime.'