Cotina Lane, a researcher with the Institute for Public Safety and Justice with the University of the District of Columbia, has just completed a study of juvenile crime in the nation’s capital.
You might be surprised by what she discovered.
“I certainly was surprised,” she tells me.
Working with criminal justice professors Angelyn Flowers and Sylvia Hills, Lane examined arrest records for children and teens charged with crimes during the summers of 2006, 2007 and 2008.
First surprise: arrests actually went down, from 1,545 in 2006 to 1,363 in 2008.
In what we consider the city’s roughest, poorest precinct, 7D across the Anacostia River, crime by kids 17 and under actually fell 84 percent from 2006 to 2007; it dropped another 24 percent in 2008.
But on Capitol Hill, covered by the 6th District, juvenile crime increased 39 percent last summer, to 202 arrests from May to August.
Another myth smashed by the report, which is still in draft form, is that our stereotype of roving gangs of boys may be obsolete.
“A large number of female juveniles are committing violent crime,” Flowers says. “This is a population that is not being addressed and is becoming increasingly violent.”
Violent and aimless.
Lane asked girls in high school to answer questions in a pilot survey. She asked how they felt about themselves and their community, how often they went to local recreation centers. She also asked what they most liked to do with their time.
Answer: “Have sex.”
Lane, who is raising a 15-year-old daughter, was pretty shocked. “We’re of the mind-set that girls are doing better than boys,” she says.
Apparently, many are not. In fact, they are committing crimes and having sex when possible.
The draft report puts it this way: “The outlook presented by female students for their lives’ was an unexpected revelation. Some responses were having a child, hanging out or maybe working.”
The UDC report is troubling but not terribly surprising to some of the people who have dedicated their lives to helping kids from the poor parts of town. They have been telling me for years that girls are quitting school and dropping out of society in increasing numbers. Drive through some neighborhoods in Anacostia and you will see hundreds of teenagers hanging around during school hours. Many are girls who are organizing into crews that do battle as violent as their boyfriends’ gangs.
Sitting around a table on UDC’s campus yesterday, Lane and the professors knew they were breaking new ground that would force people to tread uncomfortable terrain. What, I asked, was being done to reach these kids? Has Mayor Adrian Fenty committed resources to catch them before they become crime statistics? How can we find out whether all the programs and money devoted to “at risk” kids are working?
“Follow the money,” Lane tells me.
In my next column, I will give it a try.
