Indifference That Can Kill

A little-known fact: Being placed under the jurisdiction of Youth Rehabilitation Services is not synonymous with being detained. The department, led by highly touted juvenile justice reformer Vincent Schiraldi, has the discretion to place back in the community at any time youths who have been committed to its jurisdiction by the court. Schiraldi's decisions are not reviewable by the court.

Schiraldi believes that most juveniles can and should be supervised in community settings, and he acts accordingly, sometimes ignoring staff recommendations when they indicate that a youth offender should be placed and helped in a more restrictive setting.

Cases such as those of Lilly and Henson, and others cited in earlier columns, leave the police frustrated, violence-plagued communities in fear and juvenile justice circles in turmoil.

A city that is concerned about both troubled youth and public safety would address this problem. It would initiate an independent, third-party probe -- not controlled by the youth services agency -- that documents and tracks, since 2005 when Schiraldi took up the post, the records of all youths placed under the jurisdiction of Youth Rehabilitation Services.

Such an investigation would review judicial records and decisions, the youth agency's professional staff recommendations, the agency's final placement decisions, and the youths' subsequent drug, social and criminal histories.

Ordinarily, the D.C. Council should take on that task, eliciting the views of all sides in this critical issue, the youth agency's leadership, probation officers, judges and other court personnel, and community and youth leaders.

The council committee that oversees Youth Rehabilitation Services is chaired by Phil Mendelson.

"People steal."

People also die.

kingc@washpost.com