Juvenile Delinquency Gets Old Fast for Victims
When D.C. Superior Court Judge Michael L. Rankin returned home from a recent weekend spin on his motorcycle, he discovered that three bicycles were missing from his garage. And he learned soon after that two more had been taken from a neighbor's front porch.
"I was not surprised," said Rankin, 59, a former prosecutor who became a judge in 1985. "I was disappointed that I had left the garage door open."
For many of us, saying we were disappointed would be an understatement. Whether it's a bike, lawn mower or just a potted plant, so-called petty theft can be as aggravating and as infuriating as it is commonplace. And it doesn't matter if the perpetrators are juveniles. Today, they steal your stuff; tomorrow, they might take your life.
On July 3, a day after the bicycle thefts, Rankin spotted five boys in possession of the stolen property. They were in a park not far from his house in Crestwood, a predominantly black middle- and upper-middle-class neighborhood nestled between Rock Creek Park and 16th Street NW. "I'd say they were between 10 and 13 years old," Rankin said.
And there are more where they came from.
So far this year, D.C. police have arrested 1,696 juveniles. That's enough to fill a high school -- or it would be if the delinquents showed up for class. Instead of getting an education, finding a job and becoming productive members of society, however, many of them have decided to steal what they want from others. Five years ago, police say, juvenile robbery arrests averaged seven a month. This year, the average is 23 a month.
"I've lived in the neighborhood since 1988," Rankin said. "In those years, I've had a dozen azaleas dug up and stolen; downspouts and copper pipes stolen; a brass lamp stolen from out front; a bicycle stolen off the bike rack on a car in my garage; a Cadillac DeVille stolen from in front of my house and air bags stolen out of a Honda. The houses are nice; the lawns well kept. But we still have our share of crime."
Rankin retrieved three of the five stolen bicycles. But before he could take them home, a 22-year-old man approached him and declared that the stolen bikes now belonged to "my people," referring to the boys. What happened next comes from police accounts and not the judge, who might be called to testify if the case goes to trial: The man demanded that Rankin return the bicycles to the boys -- or he'd live to regret it. Suddenly, the specter of an assault loomed large. Some might dismiss the possibility that a bicycle theft could lead to violence -- but many of us know of good people who have been killed for less.
The police arrived just in time. A scuffle ensued between the officers and the man. He was arrested. Because of the threat, deputy U.S. marshals were assigned to protect the judge.
Responding to a surge in violent crime, including armed robberies, Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey recently declared a "crime emergency." More police officers have been deployed to high-crime areas. At the same time, the D.C. Council approved a plan to hire an additional 350 police officers, and Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.) called for a White House summit on crime in the nation's capital. Others, however, say that such measures are unwarranted and that crime -- juvenile crime in particular -- is not as serious as it has been made out to be.
"D.C. should be careful to not put all of its safety eggs in one basket and should invest in a more balanced public safety approach that includes the kinds of employment and youth development programs that have been shown to reduce crime in other jurisdictions," said Jason Ziedenberg, executive director of the Justice Policy Institute, a Washington-based advocacy group. "We've seen youth violence exaggerated before, and we're still suffering from poor decisions made in reaction to fear and hype."
That makes sense -- in the long run. A civil society is well served by having as many people employed as possible. A man with money is less likely to steal yours; if he has a nice home, he probably won't be inclined to break into yours.
But what can be done now to improve public safety, especially in low-income black neighborhoods that have been experiencing a crime emergency for years? For one thing, lock up the worst offenders. Of the 499 juvenile repeat offenders arrested this year, 57 have been arrested six to 14 times since 2001.
To Rankin, the streets are not only a haven for repeat offenders but also a breeding ground for them. "It's not unusual to go to a park or a playground and find older guys who are smoking and using the foulest language and engaged in behavior that is chilling," Rankin said. "And there are usually younger boys looking up to them, imitating them. It's like a rite of passage."
What the judge witnessed were juvenile delinquents on the way to becoming hardened felons. Just keeping our garage doors locked won't be enough to stop them.
E-mail: milloyc@washpost.com
