If you live in tough parts of D.C., you walk the streets in fear of young and violent kids.
By far, the majority of teenagers in this city are good kids. They study hard, help out around the house, say please and thank you. But the few who are capable of violence can upset an entire neighborhood.
They might be boys, they might be girls; they could be 13 or 21; they could be walking in a group or alone. But they can turn a stroll to the corner store for a soda into a life or death experience. They will knock over an older woman at a bus stop to grab her purse. They will beat up kids coming from school just for a laugh. They will kill for a pair of sneakers.
At this point some readers will accuse me of blaming all teenagers for the crimes of a few. Not true. What I am doing is describing the plight of law abiding citizens in D.C. who are terrorized by the few violent kids among them. They know who the bad ones are. The authorities will not protect them.
This week, Attorney General Peter Nickles took control of the D.C. Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services. He advised Mayor Adrian Fenty to replace the interim director, Marc Schindler. Nickles suggested a few candidates. Fenty and City Administrator Neil Albert interviewed them. Fenty appointed Robert Hildum, who happens to have been one of Nickles’ deputies for the past three years.
Advocates for youth offenders have gone ballistic. D.C. Lawyers for Youth has asked for Nickles’ head. In a letter to D.C. Auditor Deborah Nichols, they charge Nickles with “potential conflict of interest,” saying he has acted in an “unethical manner.”
Perhaps. When Nickles was in private practice, he represented teenagers in a class action suit against the city’s youth rehab agency; now that he’s the AG, he’s on the other side and pulling strings that put him in conflict with his former clients, the advocates argue. Let Nichols decide.
But for citizens of the District, there’s a more clear matter to consider. For many years the city’s agency that should protect us from violent kids has coddled them instead.
Under Vinnie Schiraldi, the pendulum swung too far toward rehabilitation and turned the detention system into a sieve.
Nickles investigated the recent shootings on South Capital Street where young people who had been in the city’s care shot up and killed innocent kids. He looked into the killing of principal Brian Betts, again by kids who the city agency knew were violent. He attended forums where citizens said they were not being protected.
“I listened,” he said. “You have to balance reform with safety on the street. People have to trust the reform. They were losing confidence.”
Hildum is a 180 degree change from Schiraldi. He will be tough. He will open up the system to public scrutiny. He will strengthen the detention process.
For the people preyed on by young predators, that could be a relief.
Harry Jaffe’s column appears on Tuesday and Friday. He can be contacted at mailto:[email protected] “>[email protected].
