D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) unveiled legislation Wednesday that would require the Office of the Attorney General in D.C. to more aggressively prosecute children and teens who commit crimes and increase its enforcement of parents in truancy cases — her most sweeping effort to date to address what local leaders have called a crisis among young people in the District.
The bill also would restrict prosecutors from using plea agreements in violent cases involving younger people and would make youths charged with weapons offenses ineligible for diversion programs. The District’s deputy mayor for public safety and justice said she was “okay” if the bill meant more kids would be locked behind bars.
“If it increases commitment, we’re okay with that,” Lindsey Appiah, the deputy mayor, said of the bill Tuesday. “We’re committed to ensuring that our kids get the right services supports to make them and the community safe.”
The mayor’s bill would also impose harsher punishments for middle-schoolers who bring drugs or weapons to schools, create an alternative school for students with severe behavioral problems and modify the referral process for children with poor attendance. Bowser pitched the legislation as she unveiled her long-awaited $21 billion budget for the next fiscal year.
The proposal comes after months of pressure for elected officials to address two separate issues hurting children and teens in the District: an increase in violence and alarmingly high truancy rates.
Local leaders have been careful not to link the two issues, as most kids who miss school are not committing crimes. But Bowser and members of the D.C. Council have said that increasing school attendance is a necessary part of keeping children safe and out of trouble.
Last year in D.C., 37 percent of students — and 47 percent of high-schoolers — were truant, meaning they had missed at least 10 full days of school without a formal excuse. Overall, 43 percent of students were chronically absent, which includes excused and unexcused absences, for at least 10 percent of the school year, or about 18 days. Those figures are improvements from the 2021-22 school year, but still higher than pre-pandemic attendance levels, mirroring patterns nationwide as schools struggle to get students in the habit of attending every day.
Meanwhile, 106 children and teens were shot in 2023, 16 of them fatally. Two other youths were fatally beaten and another was fatally stabbed. More youths were also accused of pulling triggers last year than in the previous one.
Last week, three girls ages 12 and 13 were charged with fatally beating a man. None of the girls had previous arrests, but all three had long-standing truancy issues, according to information released in court. Bowser, in a recent television interview addressing the crime, teased the forthcoming bill.
Under the mayor’s bill, the city would refer students who are truant but have fewer than 25 absences to the Department of Human Services, to give families resources such as case management and group therapy to determine why a child is missing school. Children between 5 and 13 would be sent to the agency after 10 unexcused absences. Older students will be referred after 15 absences.
If a younger student continues to miss school, up to 20 days, they will be sent to the city’s Child and Family Services Agency, where investigators are tasked with finding signs of abuse or neglect that may contribute to absences, according to the bill.
Any student — regardless of age — who racks up 25 unexcused absences will be referred to D.C.’s attorney general in the mayor’s bill for consequences. That office in recent years has not prosecuted any parents — who, by law, can be fined or imprisoned if their child is truant — and referred 21 percent of students to court diversion programs, a spokesperson said.
In the remaining 79 percent of cases, the office said in a statement, attorneys “could not address those cases for a variety of reasons, including insufficient information from the schools: addresses could be wrong, the contact information outdated, families moved, situation has changed and kids are now in school.”
The mayor’s bill, however, would force the attorney general to do more in all cases — either by referring a family for mandatory participation in a group conference, compelling the family to take part in a court diversion program, or prosecuting a parent or guardian.
“Currently, there are many instances in which young people are referred either to [court] or the [Office of the Attorney General] and nothing happens,” said Paul Kihn, the city’s deputy mayor for education. “And so this legislation is disallowing that.”
The bill from Bowser joins legislation put forward by council members Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5) and Charles Allen (D-Ward 6) in recent days to address truancy. Parker says his approach will put higher expectations on schools, parents and city agencies to report and address unexcused absences, as well as amend the truancy referral process. Allen’s bill proposes changes including directing more resources to schools with high rates of chronic absenteeism and requiring more reporting from certain agencies to make sure truant students are participating in court diversion programs.
