https://dc.citycast.fm/public-safety/youth-crime-debate-kingman-park

In One D.C. Neighborhood, a Wave of Teen Crime Reignites Juvenile Justice Debate

A school-zone gun law could let prosecutors try one teen as an adult. Should they?

Just after midnight on Sept. 19, a woman walked out of a bathroom in her Kingman Park home to find a gun in her face. As two masked intruders ordered her to stay in the bathroom while they took cash and her car keys, she realized the pair holding her at gunpoint were children — small enough to have broken in through the pet door meant for a Chihuahua mix. They then stole her car and fled. She called the police and continued on with her life, a bit more vigilant but determined not to allow kids to prevent her from sleeping soundly in her own bed.

Then, two weeks later, they returned. This time, she found them inside her home holding her boyfriend at gunpoint in broad daylight.

“When they came back, that was the time I just lost it completely,” she told City Cast DC in an interview, speaking anonymously for fear of her safety. “To come back, at 5:30 in the afternoon, to the same house where you’ve already done this — it was just so brazen.”

A spate of crimes committed by juveniles such as this one has reignited a long contentious debate in D.C. about how to punish and rehabilitate youth offenders. That debate is particularly acute in Kingman Park, where for the past two years, residents have kept a spreadsheet documenting dozens of incidents in the community committed by people who they believe to be teenagers.

The spreadsheet, reviewed by City Cast DC, contains repeated reports of bikes stolen from garages, rocks thrown through car windows and glass bottles shattered into yards. One home reportedly had a brick tossed through the window twice in one month.

In an incident captured on video, a kid wearing a Pennywise mask and an ankle monitor reportedly used a bungee cord to knock over a security camera stationed on top of a garage. In another recorded incident, someone chucked a rock through the window of a home decorated with Pride flags and yelled a homophobic slur. It hit the resident, a gay man, in the face.

In some cases, arrests have been made: a 13-year-old was charged with a hate crime in connection with the rock throwing. And earlier this month, D.C. police announced they had arrested four teens, ages 13 and 14, in connection with the recent rash of home invasions.

But some residents worry it’s too little, too late. “The police investigation seems to be really good this time and really thorough,” the woman whose home was burglarized twice said. “But anyone could see this coming. Wouldn't it be an easier job for these kids to see some consequences before it reaches this level?”

D.C. police top brass — including Interim Chief Jeffery Carroll, Assistant Chief Ramey Kyle and Commander Shawn Rooney — met with Kingman Park and Rosedale residents at the D.C. Armory on Oct. 9 to discuss the investigation and field questions. Residents from the Southeast Washington neighborhoods spoke of their pain, fear and frustration. Some lived on the same block where, in July, a 12-year-old shot and killed a 13-year-old. One young man spoke in a shaky voice about his first day attending violence prevention training as part of the city’s summer youth employment program, when two 19-year-olds were shot at a church in Kingman Park.

According to the most recent data published by D.C. police, 1,013 juveniles were arrested in D.C. between Jan. 1 and June 29 this year — a more than 12% increase compared with the same period last year. It marks the highest rate of juvenile arrests in that period since 2019. And the crimes have gotten more violent: Nearly 40% of arrests were for violent crimes, compared to 34% last year. Victims of crime have gotten younger too — the average age of a D.C. homicide victim this year is under 30.

The city experienced a significant reduction in crime last year, and that trend has continued with an overall reduction in crime this year. However, as of Oct. 16, violent crime is up 12% — driven by a stunning 41% increase in assaults with a dangerous weapon. Police say they’ve bolstered their presence in high-crime areas, but staffing remains an issue. In Chinatown, where it’s common to see gaggles of officers stationed around the Gallery Place Metro, reports of large groups of teens harassing passersby persist.

Schools of thought on how to treat children accused of crimes run the gamut — a report released last year by the D.C. Criminal Justice Coordinating Council recommended a holistic approach, identifying economic instability and exposure to gun violence at a young age as chief causes. The report suggests more equity-focused research, investment in youth employment programs and targeted support for at-risk youth.

Others — including U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro — believe that harsh accountability is the only true deterrent. Though Pirro’s office is not legally permitted to prosecute anyone under the age of 15, she has repeatedly and publicly expressed a desire to expand her office’s power to prosecute children as young as 12.

Kingman Park and Rosedale residents are united by their frustration with youth crime, but it became apparent during the community meeting that they are divided over possible solutions.

One woman said she would prefer to speak with community-based violence interrupters over police and urged officials not to support youth curfews, pointing to studies that found no evidence curfews provided an effective solution. A man thanked the police profusely for their service before asking for more “broken windows” policing, suggesting officers should find a way to approach any teen they spot. Another woman asked if there had been serious discussion about prosecuting the suspects’ parents.

“The Council, the mayor, police — are you all speaking about at any point passing legislation holding parents accountable for the actions of their children?” she asked. “We have been having the same conversation for the last however many years, it’s basically meaningless really … and at some point, we have to stop talking and we have to have some real legislation and we have to have some real actions. Because talking is not doing us no good.”

Developed in the first half of the 20th century amid segregation, Kingman Park was an enclave for Black homeowners. Now classified as a historic district, the neighborhood full of single-family homes has gentrified over time. It was part of the D.C. precinct that swung hardest toward President Donald Trump in 2024, with nearly 21% of the vote — the highest portion of any precinct in the deeply blue nation’s capital, according to data from the D.C. Board of Elections.

Crime in the area has largely followed citywide trends, according to D.C. police data, spiking in 2023 and declining every year since, though the neighborhood has experienced an increase in burglaries and assaults with a dangerous weapon this year compared to last.

Ward 7 D.C. Councilmember Wendell Felder answered a resident’s question about why teens committing crimes seem not to fear consequences by blaming the council, saying his colleagues’ failure to support an emergency youth curfew sent the wrong message. (The Council did pass a youth curfew into permanent legislation).

“The whole notion of ‘OK, if I’m under 18, I’ll commit a crime and then I’ll be out’ — that’s a real mentality,” Felder said, adding that the District has to “toe a fine line” between holding juveniles accountable and rehabilitation.

The four teens charged in connection with the spate of Kingman Park and Rosedale burglaries are being prosecuted as juveniles. One of the boys is accused of participating in all nine incidents, while the other three are suspected of participating in only some of them. Police say their behavior escalated over time, beginning Sept. 5 with the unlawful entry of empty homes and culminating Oct. 2 in an armed invasion during which one teen held down and attempted to sexually assault a resident. In four instances, they are also accused of stealing cars.

D.C. law has stringent restrictions on which teens can be tried as adults. The D.C. Attorney General’s Office handles the majority of juvenile crime, though the U.S. Attorney’s Office can prosecute teens 16 and older if they are accused of specific violent offenses, including first-degree burglary. The attorney general can petition a judge to transfer teens as young as 15 to adult court, but there is not usually any legal mechanism to prosecute 13- and 14-year-olds accused of burglary as adults.

However, because the final alleged armed burglary and attempted sexual assault occurred near Brookland Middle School and Turkey Thicket Recreation Center, there may be a pathway to try at least one of the teens as an adult. D.C. Code allows the attorney general’s office to request a transfer to adult court for any child charged with illegal possession of a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school, day care, playground or youth center. The law dictates that the attorney general’s office would have to prove that the child’s transfer to adult court is in the public’s best interest and that there is no reasonable chance the child will be rehabilitated.

A spokesperson for the D.C. Attorney General’s Office declined to answer questions from City Cast DC about whether the office will attempt to transfer any of the cases to adult court, citing D.C. law that requires juvenile records to be kept confidential and prohibits the office from sharing information on specific cases.

President Donald Trump pushed for the law to be changed last year after a 19-year-old former DOGE staffer was allegedly assaulted in D.C. by a group of teens. The U.S. House passed a bill in September 2025 that would allow 14-year-olds to be tried as adults in D.C., but it has stalled in the Senate.

“The Law in DC must be changed to prosecute these ‘minors’ as adults, and lock them up for a long time, starting at age 14,” Trump posted on Truth Social last year.

Some D.C. residents agree. Eric Waldo said he was at his Brookland home with his 15-month-old and 4-year-old daughters on Aug. 20 when he and his wife heard a commotion on their front porch. A neighbor texted him that three teens had just broken into their home and they’d called the police, but the teens appeared to have moved on to Waldo’s home.

Doorbell footage shows them peering through Waldo’s windows until a neighbor chased them off. The police arrived and took a report — but a couple of hours later Waldo heard noises again, this time coming from his back porch. The teens had returned. He chased them off with a baseball bat, he said. It wasn’t the last time he’d chase teens with a baseball bat down his street — a few weeks later, he was on a walk with his youngest daughter around 3 p.m. on a Sunday when a neighbor came running down the sidewalk, screaming about a burglary.

Waldo described the past few months as “terrifying and emotionally exhausting,” especially because he’s been traveling frequently to visit his mother undergoing cancer treatment, but has been plagued with worry about whether it's safe to leave his wife and two young daughters at home. Friends have urged him to move his family out of the city and into the suburbs, he said.

“It’s like being a prisoner in your own home. Checking every door and every window, setting alarms, motion sensors — no one wants to live their life that way,” Waldo said.

He said he fully supports the teens being prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, urging the attorney general's office to use the proximity to the school to request a transfer to adult court.

“These young people — I always hope for the best for the world — but they've clearly broken their contract with society and we need to be protected from that,” said Waldo, president of the D.C. College Access Program. “How many robberies, how many assaults have to happen before we try them as adults? It's a tragedy that this is happening but, to me, it's a double tragedy if they are allowed back on the streets to keep doing this.”

When asked if he supports any of the four teens being prosecuted as adults, Interim Chief Carroll said the police department is not responsible for charging decisions but added that prosecutors should factor in the pain expressed by residents at the meeting earlier this month.

“Prosecutors should take into consideration the severity and impact on the community,” Carroll told City Cast DC. “I mean we sat here for two hours tonight and listened to people’s concerns, I definitely think prosecutors should take that into account.”

As the community meeting drew to a close, Necothia Robinson took the mic. The 60-year-old native Washingtonian had lived in the same Rosedale home her entire life, a home where her family has now raised four generations. She tearfully asked if it would be alright for her to pray over the neighborhood. The attendees and the authorities alike bowed their heads.

“Father, I thank you for the officers and the community and the people that have come together to try to figure out something that we can do together. Father, I implore you to continue to protect every home, every person, restore peace, restore trust, restore safety in the heart and mind of those who have been violated,” she prayed, weeping. “Then I pray for the young people that don’t understand you are their God. I pray, Lord God, that you touch their hearts, touch their minds… so that they come to understand that the crime and the things that they are doing are not good, not healthy, not anything that’s going to continue to bring them to you.”

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5913999&forum_id=2#50197252)

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