An inmate stands in the south end
hallway of the Central Detention Facility in the District. (Linda
Davidson/The Washington Post)--Joeann
Lewis, with the ashes of her niece, Deeniquia Dodds, a transgender
woman killed in Northeast Washington in July, allegedly by Shareem Hall
and a co-conspirator. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)
SECOND-CHANCE CITY | This is part of a continuing series that will examine issues related to repeat violent offenders in the District of Columbia. Part I | Part II
Hundreds of criminals sentenced by D.C. judges under an obscure local
law crafted to give second chances to young adult offenders have gone on
to rob, rape or kill residents of the nation’s capital.
The original intent of the law was to rehabilitate inexperienced criminals under the age of 22. The District’s Youth Rehabilitation Act allows
for shorter sentences for some crimes and an opportunity for offenders
to emerge with no criminal record. But a Washington Post investigation
has found a pattern of violent offenders returning rapidly to the
streets and committing more crimes. Hundreds have been sentenced under
the act multiple times.
The
District’s Youth Rehabilitation Act offers lenient sentences to
offenders under 22 years old. But the Post found that at least 120
people sentenced under the Act since 2010 have gone on to be charged
with murder. (Video: Whitney Shefte/Photo: Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)
In dozens of cases, D.C. judges were able to hand down Youth Act
sentences shorter than those called for under mandatory minimum laws
designed to deter armed robberies and other violent crimes. The
criminals have often repaid that leniency by escalating their crimes of
violence upon release.
In 2013, four masked men entered the home of a family in Northeast
Washington, held them at gunpoint and ransacked the house. One of the
invaders, Shareem Hall, was sentenced under the Youth Act. He was
released on probation in 2015.
Almost exactly a year later, Hall and a co-conspirator shot a 22-year-old transgender woman,
Deeniquia Dodds, during a robbery in the District, according to
charging documents. It is unclear who pulled the trigger. Police said
the pair were targeting transgender females.
Dodds died nine days later.
“You’re telling me you can come back out on the streets and rob again,
hold people hostage again, kill again — because of the Youth Act?” said
Joeann Lewis, Dodds’s aunt.
