Editorial: The New “Joy Ride”: Carjacking in the District

A panel discussion moderated by CM Charles Allen discussed the causes of juvenile carjackings at a community meeting held at Hill Center. 

Editorial: The New “Joy Ride”: Carjacking in the District

by Larry Janezich

On Tuesday, January 30 The Hill Rag sponsored a panel discussion on the spate of young people committing the crime of carjacking.  Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen, who moderated the discussion, said that understanding the “why” was necessary in order to identify measures to curb carjacking.

The panel included MPD First District Commander Colin Hall, US Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves, DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb, “Guns Down Friday” founder Jawanna Hardy, “Credible Messenger of Building Blocks DC” Reginald Mathis, and foster parent and advocate Kevin McGilly.

In opening remarks, Allen informed the audience that in “2023, there were 958 carjackings in DC, a 100% increase over 2022 – 77% involved a gun. Of those arrested, 62% were juveniles.

Allen then repeated his formula for addressing DC’s crime issues: “We both have to ensure accountability…and we have to work to prevent violence in the first place.”  He said, “People who commit harm by carjacking…no matter what the age, have got to have consequences and accountability.”  The Ward 6 community Allen represents would likely agree.  But the panel discussion revealed how accountability is perceived from the perspective of those who deal directly with youth offenses.

Most of the carjacking discussion centered on the question of “why?”  Commander Hall, MPD 1st District, says it’s because kids in troubled homes use carjacking as a means to build status and reputation in their peer group, often posting their crimes on social media.  He added that some juvenile carjacking behavior is baffling: numerous carjackings in one night, each time the vehicle being driven only a short distance.

DC Attorney General Schwalb said that it’s the disconnect between a particular young person and the protective factors which satisfy human needs of belonging, including family, home, and school.  He added that “celebrating the joy of stealing cars” is a factor, as is easy access to guns.

Credible Messenger Reginald Mathis of pointed to dysfunctional homes that encourage young people to develop “trauma bonds” with peers, sometimes resulting in peer pressure to commit these offenses.

McGilly agreed that young people carjack because it gives them status in their peer group and on social media and because there are no consequences.

Accountability

Accountability in most juvenile justice systems is interpreted as punishment or adherence to a set of rules laid down by the system, and that’s the definition the community likely thinks of when it hears the term.

But among criminal justice professionals, accountability starts at an institutional level.

Jawanna Hardy of ”Guns Down Friday” says there is no accountability for the government or the programs that are supposed to provide assistance but fail, or from schools, or from parents. The city is reportedly “resource rich.”  Yet Hardy describes having to “scramble for resources” like financial assistance:  her organization relies on donations as well as Building Block grants for funds to transport kids to school who are trying to avoid violence occurring between “beefing” young people in neighborhoods.  Hardy also lamented the lack of accountability from schools and parents regarding truancy.  The most recent data – according to Allen – shows a significant increase in chronic truancy and absenteeism among DC’s high school students:  a 60 percent chronic absenteeism rate and a 47 % truancy rate.  Pre-pandemic, both were about 30%.  While there is no single “cause” of carjacking, it does not seem possible to separate the increase in the offense rates with the pervasive problem of truancy.

Deterrence

Hill Rag on-line editor Liz O’Gorek – who wrote two articles on juvenile carjacking which resulted in Tuesday evening’s panel – told the group: “The goal of DC criminal justice system is to prevent kids from reoffending – not to punish them – to protect their future from their past.”

DC Attorney Schwalb summarized criminal justice research on the deterrent capacity of criminal penalties:  “We know that when we want to see deterrence in a system we need to have prompt arrests and certain swift consequences.”  He added that when “so many cases are not cleared we have a challenge in the criminal justice system.”

Several factors get in the way of “certain and swift consequences” for youth carjacking.  First, these offenses have a low arrest rate and a low case closure rate because of the difficulty of identifying masked perpetrators.  Another factor is the low rate of prosecutions of arrested juveniles.  Schwalb says that the MPD arrest standard of probable cause is different from the standard of due process – or proving guilt beyond reasonable doubt.  He says, “We will not charge if we can’t in good faith prove beyond a reasonable doubt.”  This usually requires evidence from a reliable eyewitness, a cooperating witness, a camera, or social media evidence on phones of suspects.  Without these, there is usually not enough evidence to charge on the day of arrest.  Parent and advocate Kevin McGilly related a personal experience of his foster son when a case was dropped.  McGilly lamented there was no referral to a diversion program which served to show other young people that criminal offenses often carry no consequences.

Another obstacle to criminal deterrence is expense.  DC Attorney Schwalb says prevention should be the focus.  “If we want to be safer in the long run we cannot prosecute and arrest our way out of it.  Even doing our best…we’re go to be having this same conversation if we don’t focus on the need to change the underlying conditions including housing, health, education, economic and job development, and mental health support – that’s what a whole of government approach looks like.  Prosecutors can’t solve social issues,” he warned.

Schwalb also alluded to crime legislation pending before the city council which expands pre-trial detention for some juveniles and adults (which was made temporary for 225 days before passage on Tuesday).  He asked, “Are we ready to commit to build more detention facilities and are we willing to acknowledge when we lock young people up and put them in places where they are at risk, sometimes we cause harm?  That has a cost to society.”

In a subsequent Ward Six Update distributed to constituents, Allen offered his take on where the discussion of youth carjacking leads. According to Allen, the District needs to immediately adopt a strategic gun violence reduction plan and Executive Branch agencies must coordinate and focus on the small number of chronic offenders who are responsible for most violent crime.  This strategic plan was commissioned in 2021 https://bit.ly/3SyvBsK  and an update of that report released this week examined how the District has failed to take aggressive steps to implement that plan. https://bit.ly/4bw6QGG

In addition, Allen noted the upcoming vote in the city council on the Omnibus Crime Bill (which passed 12 – 1 on Tuesday, February 6) contained several provisions which he supported, including strengthening carjacking laws which he said would help hold people accountable, and adding many of the increased gun use penalties that had been included in the previous criminal code revision which were blocked from becoming law by Congress.

At the end, there were answers about the why of juvenile carjacking but it was harder to say why carjacking (958) and homicides (274) exploded in 2023.  MPD says it’s because of a shortage of officers.  But the resignations from the force often cited by the police union for FYs 2020 – 2023 only amounted to an additional average 27 officers a year above the 100 resignations a year for FYs 2018 and 2019.  The shortage in officers appears to be the result of lack of ability to hire recruits to replace officers who have resigned, retired, died, became disabled, reached the maximum age, or were terminated.  The average hiring rate for FYs 2018 and 2019 was 330 hires each year.  The average for FYs 2020 – 2023 was 217 a year.  Other cities (NYC, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit) have suffered similar declines in their police forces and their crime rates – including homicides – have dropped.  What was different about DC?