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Tag: dc attorney general

  • ‘Not acceptable’: DC attorney general seeks overhaul of agency tasked with rehabilitating youth offenders – WTOP News

    ‘Not acceptable’: DC attorney general seeks overhaul of agency tasked with rehabilitating youth offenders – WTOP News

    D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb rolled out legislation targeting the city’s Department of Youth Rehabilitative Services, saying they aren’t doing enough to prevent youth recidivism.

    The vast majority of young people committed to D.C.’s Department of Youth Rehabilitative Services end up getting arrested again, according to a 2022 study of the juvenile justice system in the District.

    Attorney General Brian Schwalb rolled out legislation Tuesday aiming to change that.

    It’s called the Recidivism Reduction, Oversight, and Accountability for DYRS Act, or the “ROAD Act,” and it comes amid growing concern in recent years over juvenile crime.

    “More and more young people are committing violent offenses — carjackings, robbery, gun crimes, homicides — and they’re committing offenses at younger ages. And while it’s a relatively small number of young people who are engaged in criminal behavior, that small group is causing a disproportionate amount of harm,” Schwalb said during a Tuesday news conference.

    In the most serious criminal convictions, young people can be sent to the D.C. Youth Services Center, essentially a jail-like facility, in Northeast. They can also be released to parental supervision or assigned to a bed at what’s referred to as a “shelter home.”

    “From then on, DYRS is responsible for providing effective supervision and intervention to youth in their custody and reducing the likelihood that they will reoffend,” Schwalb’s office said in a news release.

    But the most recent city data shows that as more young people enter D.C.’s juvenile justice system, the department has been failing in that regard.

    According to the last comprehensive study from the Mayor’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, nearly 93% of young people committed to the department’s care are rearrested. Nearly half are convicted of a new offense.

    “Almost every single one of the kids committed to DYRS care gets arrested again. That is not acceptable,” Schwalb said. “These recidivism rates are not acceptable. Reducing recidivism is an essential part of a comprehensive public safety strategy.”

    Schwalb said “swift and certain consequences” are critical in deterring crime and changing behavior in young people, and that the department isn’t getting it right.

    According to the department’s own performance plan for fiscal year 2024, issued in December and cited by Schwalb on Tuesday, less than half of committed youths have a case plan within 90 days of being committed to DYRS custody.

    “Three months to develop a treatment plan, much less implement one, is not acceptable,” Schwalb said. “Meaningful intervention needs to happen right away, not months down the road.”

    Rectifying that is the first goal of Schwalb’s “ROAD Act.”

    The legislation requires the department to quickly develop and implement an individualized rehabilitation plan for every young person committed to its custody. It also bolsters the court’s authority to step in if the department has not followed through on a young person’s rehabilitation plan.

    Lastly, the law would provide for permanent, independent oversight of DYRS.

    The legislation goes far beyond Mayor Muriel Bowser’s emergency declaration in November, which was made with the goal of procuring more beds at youth shelter homes around the city. A shortage of those beds was the focus of a recent court battle, with lawyers representing a teenage girl pressing for a judge to hold the city in civil contempt because of a lack of shelter beds.

    In the girl’s case, she was locked up at the D.C. Youth Services Center for five days — even though she was supposed to be released to a shelter home. Eventually, she was released to home custody, but it was revealed in court the girl was routinely violating the terms of her release.

    Just days before the mayor’s emergency declaration, Council member Trayon White sounded the alarm on poor living conditions in the D.C. Youth Services Center. White said the jail-like facility for D.C.’s youth doesn’t have enough hygiene products, doesn’t provide enough education and isn’t sufficiently staffed.

    “There are a lot of security and safety concerns here, and I’ve only been here three hours,” White said during his November visit. “So I can imagine what’s going on at nighttime.”

    Schwalb’s sweeping bill needs D.C. Council approval and the mayor’s signature to take effect.

    WTOP’s Mike Murillo and Scott Gelman contributed to this report.

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    © 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

    Thomas Robertson

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  • DC Attorney General: Vacant property owner owes $1.8M for tax evasion – WTOP News

    DC Attorney General: Vacant property owner owes $1.8M for tax evasion – WTOP News

    For years, people who live near a vacant Northeast D.C. property have complained about the impact it’s having on the neighborhood. Now, the owner of the house is being ordered to pay $1.8 million for tax evasion.

    The owner of the abandoned property, George Papageorge and his entity, 10th & C Streets Associates, LLC, are being ordered to pay $1.8 million for tax evasion.(Courtesy DC OAG )

    For years, people who live near a vacant Northeast D.C. property have complained about the impact it’s having on the neighborhood.

    Sometimes, the building has been boarded up, and the roof and brickwork aren’t in good shape, according to Jason Jones, an assistant attorney general with D.C.’s Office of the Attorney General’s public advocacy division.

    The property, located at 1000 C Street NE, sits on a corner, so many people walk and drive by it. Dogs often use the lawn to go to the bathroom and it then “collects up,” Jones said. Neighbors regularly say it weighs down the neighborhood.

    Now, the owner of the property, George Papageorge and his entity, 10th & C Streets Associates, LLC, are being ordered to pay $1.8 million for tax evasion. It’s the result of a lawsuit that alleged Papageorge lied about the property’s occupancy status to avoid paying higher taxes.

    Property owners have to pay higher tax rates on vacant and blighted homes.

    “People in the local community knew that not only was this property vacant, but that the owner of the property was not paying his proper taxes,” Jones said. “That’s very frustrating, when you are paying your taxes, to know that someone is escaping the law.”

    It’s been under the same ownership since the late 80s, Jones said, but during that whole period, “no one has ever occupied this property.” Nobody’s leased it and the owners never lived there, he said.

    When neighbors complain, the Department of Buildings inspects properties and takes note if they’re vacant. But, Jones said, Papageorge filed response forms claiming the property was occupied and “attached utility records that showed very minimal usage as proof that the property was occupied.”

    Papageorge would go before the Real Property Tax Appeals Commission and argue he was using the property, Jones said.

    In 2021, the D.C. Council amended the city’s False Claims Act, so the attorney general could bring cases under the statute “to try to help with this problem of all the vacant properties that we have in the city,” Jones said. It provides a new way for the city to seek relief for such tax evasion.

    The Papageorge case, Jones said, is the first that the OAG has brought since the change was made.

    Papageorge has been ordered to pay $1.8 million, which includes taxes owed as far back as 2008, and almost $390,000 in unpaid vacant property taxes accumulated over 15 years.

    The Department of Buildings is still primarily responsible for addressing vacant property disputes. OAG “is really only getting involved in situations that are really outrageous,” Jones said.

    Cases involving violations of the False Claims Act are difficult to prove, Jones said. In this case, “the owner is just making these false representations over and over again. It’s a long-term pattern of abuse.”

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    © 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

    Scott Gelman

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