Our Ride Through 2007

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Juvenile-justice reformers proclaim a decrease in the number of D.C. youths arrested for serious crimes. That's an attempt to define the problem away.

D.C. police stats tell another story. Juvenile arrests for all crimes have increased annually since 2005. To wit: In 2005, there were 3,084 arrests; in 2006, 3,186; in 2007, through November, 3,200.

This year, I've written more than two dozen columns about the D.C. schools, the juvenile-justice system and the state of our families -- three badly damaged institutions in dire need of honest examination and repair. Without changes in these institutions, many of our children face grim prospects.

Sadly, expect no letup in 2008.

Help Wanted

My Dec. 9 column noted an e-mail I received from one David Gaither, a self-described "employee of one of the non-profits that contracts with DYRS." He took me to task for my columns about the D.C. Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, accusing me of conducting a "lazy and inaccurate" "witch hunt." Gaither said that he'd heard I was hoping to revive a dwindling career by trying to get DYRS chief Vinny Schiraldi removed.

A few days later, a DYRS employee wrote me that, based on his Internet research, my questioner, David Gaither, appeared to be David Muhammad, chief of committed services at DYRS.

I sent the text of the employee's e-mail to Muhammad, Schiraldi and the acting D.C. attorney general, Peter Nickles, among others, for comment.

On Dec. 21 Muhammad wrote me: "My birth name is David Gaither. While a student at Howard University I changed my name to David Muhammad after becoming a Muslim. If indeed someone named David Gaither emailed you it certainly was not me." Muhammad said that he has "not used the name David Gaither in at least ten years."

Schiraldi brought Muhammad to Washington last year from California, where, according to the Oakland Tribune, Muhammad ran a highly regarded mentoring center in Oakland and served as minister at the Nation of Islam mosque in Richmond, Calif.

The writer, "David Gaither," appears to know a lot about DYRS operations. Who is he?

His e-mail address is brokenchairrest@yahoo.com. Ideas and answers are welcome.

kingc@washpost.com