Hundreds of criminals sentenced by D.C. judges under a...law crafted to give second chances to young adult offenders have gone on to rob, rape or kill residents of the nation's capital....
In dozens of cases, D.C. judges were able to hand down Youth Act sentences shorter than those called for under mandatory minimum laws designed to deter armed robberies and other violent crimes. The criminals have often repaid that leniency by escalating their crimes of violence upon release.
In 2013, four masked men entered the home of a family in Northeast Washington, held them at gunpoint and ransacked the house. One of the invaders, Shareem Hall, was sentenced under the Youth Act. He was released on probation in 2015.
Almost exactly a year later, Hall and a co-conspirator shot a 22-year-old transgender woman, Deeniquia Dodds, during a robbery in the District, according to charging documents. It is unclear who pulled the trigger. Police said the pair were targeting transgender females.
Dodds died nine days later.
"You're telling me you can come back out on the streets and rob again, hold people hostage again, kill again -- because of the Youth Act?" said Joeann Lewis, Dodds's aunt.
This is a disgrace. The people who make sure to tell you how compassionate they are (and you aren't) could give a hoot. They hold their banquets at the Four Seasons to give each other awards for "Caring Advocate of the Year" (or whatever they call such things) while the bloodshed they sponsor continues at an accelerating pace. The next day, they pen their op-eds about how we should shred what remnant of safety remains for the not-in-Bethesda folks by -- guess what -- cutting back yet more on mandatory minimum sentencing. All to build "community trust," dontcha know.
I would ask, "Have you no shame?" but I think we already know the answer.
Hall is one of at least 121 defendants sentenced under the Youth Act who have gone on to be charged with murder in the District since 2010, according to The Post's analysis of available sentencing data and court records. Four of the slayings, including the killing of Dodds, occurred while the defendants could still have been incarcerated for previous crimes under mandatory minimum sentencing, and 30 of the killings took place while the suspects were on probation.
Youth Act offenders accounted for 1 in 5 suspects arrested on homicide charges in the District since 2010, a period that has seen a recent surge in homicides and growing public concern about repeat violent offenders.
The cycle of violence has been largely shrouded from public view or oversight. D.C. judges do not track the use of the law...
How's that? The people who say they want "data-driven sentencing" deep-six the data when it shows the blood-soaked results of their snickering complacency? My goodness.
Joeann Lewis, with the ashes of her niece, Deeniquia Dodds, a transgender woman killed in Northeast Washington in July, allegedly by Shareem Hall and a co-conspirator. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)
As a prosecutor doing state level crimes for 20 years and focusing on violent crimes for the last 15 years I can say that this is a culture of indifference. The sources of this indifference are many: powerlessness to change, an unwillingness to take on the bureaucracy or just plain fear of offending someone, all of which can lead to resignation. Go along and get ahead is what happens.
What I can say is that as prosecutors we cannot simply sit back and blame the judiciary. Frequently we have adjusted what is acceptable based upon office culture and how things are done without truly examining whether what we are doing is right. We are advocates, so telling the court they are wrong and not mincing words is an imperative. Support from the leadership is a must.
The modern approach of "bringing together criminal justice partners" is part of the problem. They don't want to change. What the prosecutors should do here is provide the data that the Post wanted regarding these offenders, so the public might see what is going on in the courts.
Most normal people would be appalled at what conduct the criminal justice system excuses, especially when you consider what they except as an excuse. Assembly-line justice is no justice at all.