Teen carjackings raise concerns about space to detain juvenile offenders in DC

A judge’s decision to release a teenage girl to home confinement days before her involvement in a carjacking-related crash that killed the girl’s stepsister exposed shortcomings in the juvenile justice system that make it harder to detain young offenders.  

A 16-year-old girl driving a carjacked Honda Pilot was killed in a crash involving another carjacked vehicle last week, police said.

Police arrested her 15-year-old stepsister, who was in the second car. Just days before the crash, Judge Andrea Hertzfeld released her to the custody of her parents with a GPS monitor on a robbery charge.

Hertzfeld pointed to a lack of space in Department of Youth and Rehabilitation Services shelter housing.

Earlier this week, when News4 asked Mayor Muriel Bowser about the lack of space leading to the girl being back on the street, the mayor said the question was not based in fact.

“This is my understanding: That the judge wanted to place a juvenile who'd also been arrested for carjackings – sixth or seventh time – in a shelter environment that is not secure and that was also not available,” Bowser said. “What was available was a secured environment, and in my opinion, if you've been arrested for the seventh time for carjacking, that is where you belong.”

But neither of the two girls involved in the fatal carjacking had been arrested in the past for carjacking.

The mayor apparently confused the girls’ cases with the case of a 13-year-old boy who was shot and killed during an attempted carjacking on D Street NW and had several prior carjacking charges.

According to a D.C. government official familiar with the investigation, the girl who died had never been in the juvenile detention system at all.

“Last week, we had two tragic incidents involving multiple children,” a statement from the mayor’s office said. “In both incidents, a child died; in both incidents, at least one of the participating children had been engaged in our criminal justice system. The mayor is not interested in a back and forth with the courts or any of our partners in the justice system. There are legitimate questions as to why children who are known to be involved in dangerous activities are able to once again be involved in dangerous activities.”

The cases highlight a problem when it comes to detaining juvenile offenders: The District is severely limited on space.

While the secure Youth Services Center says it has 88 beds, shelter housing, which allows juveniles to stay in their community and attend school while awaiting trial, only has space for 38 youths. Of those beds, only eight are for girls, for which Hertzfeld criticized the District.

A spokesperson for the court pointed out judges are prohibited by law from increasing a juvenile’s detention status if they commit a crime while in shelter housing or home confinement unless the prosecutor requests it.

The D.C. Office of Attorney General did not ask for an increase in detention when the 15-year-old girl accused in the carjacking previously appeared in juvenile court, a court spokesperson said.

In a statement, the attorney general’s office said it can’t comment on juvenile cases, even when others make public statements known to be inaccurate. The attorney general’s office also noted the lack of available space.

At a hearing in juvenile court later this month, DYRS could be held in contempt of court over the shortage of beds at shelter housing and the placement of juveniles in the Youth Services Center, which is like a jail for juveniles. News4 reported Monday about a melee that broke out at the secured detention facility when a guard was overpowered by juveniles who stole her badge and opened several cell doors.

News4 sends breaking news stories by email. Go here to sign up to get breaking news alerts in your inbox.