The Office of Research and Evaluation (ORE) is the central hub for rigorous program evaluation and juvenile justice research at DYRS. The work of this team touches every unit within the Agency, using data science to analyze needs, understand failures, and evaluate effectiveness. This unit prioritizes data accessibility, taking a tech-forward approach to create data visualizations that are digestible and readily available. The data from this unit will drive citywide priorities for the rehabilitation of District youth.
For questions, please contact [email protected].
Youth Placement
|
Placement Type |
FY21 ADP |
FY21 ADP Rate |
FY22 ADP |
FY22 ADP Rate |
FY23 ADP |
FY23 ADP Rate |
|
|
Community-Based |
Local Community-Based Residential Placement |
9.96 |
6.83% |
8.4 |
7.48% |
3.9 |
3.18% |
|
Out-of-State Community Based Residential Placement |
8.26 |
5.66% |
2.52 |
2.24% |
1.11 |
0.90% |
|
|
Foster Home |
7.75 |
5.31% |
5.53 |
4.93% |
3.26 |
2.66% |
|
|
Home |
36.22 |
24.83% |
28.87 |
25.71% |
21.83 |
17.80% |
|
|
Independent Living |
0.74 |
0.51% |
0.65 |
0.58% |
0.13 |
0.11% |
|
|
Total Community-Based |
62.92 |
43.14% |
45.98 |
40.95% |
30.22 |
24.64% |
|
|
Secure |
Hospital |
0.23 |
0.16% |
0.3 |
0.27% |
0.7 |
0.57% |
|
Jail |
14.64 |
10.04% |
10.82 |
9.64% |
12.97 |
10.57% |
|
|
New Beginnings Youth Development Center |
38.09 |
26.12% |
26.51 |
23.61% |
36.78 |
29.98% |
|
|
Out-of-State Residential Treatment Center |
5.46 |
3.74% |
6.85 |
6.10% |
10.28 |
8.38% |
|
|
Youth Services Center |
19.64 |
13.47% |
20.4 |
18.17% |
29.86 |
24.34% |
|
|
Total Secure |
79.04 |
54.19% |
64.88 |
57.79% |
90.6 |
73.86% |
|
|
Abscondence |
Abscondence |
5.48 |
3.76% |
4.75 |
4.23% |
4.04 |
3.29% |
|
ADP-Committed Youth
|
145.85
|
|
112.27 |
|
122.67 |
|
|
To see all available current data, click here.
Use the links below to view public safety and youth development statistics for recent years.
DYRS works closely with juvenile justice experts and community partners to develop innovative policies, programs, and services that are grounded in research, aligned with industry best practices, and based on models that are proven effective or promising in other jurisdictions.
Youth Population Snapshot
To see all available current data, click here.
Youth Development Indicators
Research shows that the best way to enhance long-term public safety is to provide court-involved youth with the tools they need to successfully transition into adulthood and away from re-offending. The developmental strengths and needs of each youth are different, and often are determined by the youth’s age and developmental stage. As a result, DYRS does not have a “one size fits all” approach to measuring youth development.
For some youth, attaining a high school credential may be the next important milestone, for other, older youth, the top priority may be workforce training. DYRS is also committed to tracking progress on less tangible developmental assets, such as establishing positive peer and adult relationships. As the agency is able to reliably and consistently track data on new areas of youth development, those data points will be added to this website.
Youth Attaining Workforce Experience
The number of unique youth attaining a professional certificate (such as a “Safe Serve Certification” or “Copper Cabling Certification”), an internship, or unsubsidized work, through a DYRS established program, is provided below. The chart below does not include youth who attained certificates, internships, or employment independent from DYRS workforce development programming. See the chart here.
The following tables present data on youth educational outcomes. The average youth enters his or her commitment to DYRS with few if any, high school credits and tests at the fourth- to fifth-grade level in English and math. Most have experienced multiple failures in school. In any particular fiscal year, the great majority of DYRS youth are either beyond high school age, too young to have finished high school, or not sufficiently advanced academically to attain their high school credential.
DYRS Youth Achieving High School Diploma or a GED
The table below represents the number of unique youth attaining a GED or high school diploma in the District of Columbia, by fiscal year. Data made available by the Office of the State Superintendent for Education (OSSE). These figures do not include youth who earned a high school diploma or GED outside of the District of Columbia. See the chart here.
DYRS Youth Achieving Higher Education
The table below represents the number of unique youth who enrolled in post-secondary education while under DYRS supervision, by fiscal year. See the chart here.
DYRS Secure Facilities Todays Population Data
The Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS) operates two secure facilities to house youth in their custody:
-
Youth Services Center (YSC): An 88-bed facility located in the District of Columbia; and
- New Beginnings Youth Development Center (New Beginnings): A 60-bed facility located in Laurel, Maryland.
DYRS securely confines youth with various legal statuses in these facilities, including:
Detained youth: Youth who have been ordered by a court to be securely confined pending the outcome of trial.
Committed youth: Youth who have been adjudicated by a court and found to have been involved in delinquent behavior.
Title 16 youth: Youth under the age of 18 who have been charged as adults.
Overnighters: Youth arrested and securely detained pending presentation at court.
Interstate Compact for Juveniles: Youth from jurisdictions other than the District of Columbia confined by DYRS under the Interstate Compact for Juveniles.
Youth in DYRS custody may have multiple legal statuses, meaning, for example, they could be committed for one offense while securely detained for a different offense pending the outcome of a trial.
Three charts below provide data on the populations of youth at the YSC and New Beginnings, starting in mid-September 2021. The drop-down menu in the upper right corner switches data views between the YSC and New Beginnings.
The first chart displays the population levels in each facility, while the following two charts offer information on the variables determining facility population levels: "length of stay" (the time youth spend securely confined) and the number of facility admissions. The data in these charts can be filtered by time period, legal status, race, gender, and age.
Population Trends Over Time
Committed Youth at the YSC
The YSC houses youth of various legal statuses. Committed youth have been adjudicated by a court and found to have been involved in delinquent behavior. For committed youth, the YSC is not an intended final placement, but rather a facility in which they are housed while they await a placement in a facility or other setting where they will receive services and supervision. For this reason, committed youth at the YSC are sometimes referred to as “awaiting placement” youth.
The population chart here illustrates the total number of committed youth that are housed at the YSC each day, over time. The charts below illustrate (1) the number of youth who either are newly admitted to the YSC already in committed status or who convert to committed status from some other legal status (e.g., detained status) while they are housed at the YSC, and (2) the duration of time committed youth are confined at the YSC prior to their placement in another setting.
There are cases in which committed, awaiting placement youth are housed at New Beginnings. Those youth are not identified and included in the data in the charts below.
Chart 1: Committed Youth Admitted to the YSC or Who Converted to Committed from Another Status, by Month
This chart displays the monthly number of youth who either:
- Are newly admitted to the YSC already with committed status.
- Convert to committed status from another legal status while at YSC.
The first month of the chart, October 2021, indicates that a total of seven youth were either admitted as committed or became committed while already housed at the YSC during that month.
Color Coding:
- Blue: Represents committed youth who were released as of the last date included in the data.
- Green: Represents committed youth who were admitted but remained housed at the YSC as of the last date included in the data. A green bar from two months prior to the last reported date of the data indicates that a youth admitted as committed two months ago remained housed at the YSC as of the last reported date of the data.
Thus, the sum of the totals from the green bars across all months reflects the total number of committed youth housed at the YSC as of the last reported date in the data.
Chart 2: Days Confined as a Committed Youth at Release From the YSC, By Month of Admission or Conversion to Committed Status
This chart summarizes the duration of time committed youth were confined at the YSC in committed status prior to release or transfer to a placement (i.e., the calculation excludes any time youth spent in detention legal status). Like the chart above it, the data are organized by the month committed youth were admitted or converted to committed status. The data for October 2021 reflect the amount of time committed youth admitted in that month spent at the facility prior to release.
NOTE: Only youth who were released as of the last reported date of the data are included in each month’s calculations. Any months with a green bar -- which indicates committed youth admitted, but not yet released – do not have final calculations. The data for these months exclude all youth who were admitted but not yet released as of the last reported date, and these calculations are subject to change as youth are released over time.
The data are presented by quartiles. For each month, the quartiles should be interpreted as follows:
- 25th percentile: The maximum number of days 25% of committed youth admitted in the month were housed before release.
- 50th percentile (median): The maximum number of days 50% of committed youth admitted in the month were housed before release.
- 75th percentile: The maximum number of days 75% of committed youth admitted in the month were housed before release.
- Max # Days: The maximum number of days any committed youth admitted in the month was housed before release.
Incident Rates
Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS) staff at the Youth Services Cener (YSC) and New Beginnings Youth Development Center (New Beginnings) routinely document instances of unusual incidents that take place at the two facilities. During the Jerry M. Consent Decree, DYRS was required to collect, validate, and analyze data regarding the following five categories of critical incidents and assaults:[1]
- injuries to youth as a result of assaults;
- staff-on-youth assaults;
- youth-on-youth assaults;
- critical incidents; and
- self-injurious behavior.
DYRS uses the following definitions for the purposes of categorizing and reporting incidents:
Assault - 1) An attempt or effort, with force or violence, to injure, or 2) a nonconsensual and intentional (voluntary, on purpose, and not by mistake or accident) touching in a part of another person's body that would cause fear, shame, humiliation or mental anguish if done without consent.
Critical Incident - An incident that poses a risk of serious harm to youth and/or staff, including but not limited to the following categories: 1) fires or arsons; 2) riots; 3) serious assaults (for example, assaults resulting in significant injury, involving multiple assailants or the use of weapons); 4) suicides or suicide attempts (not gestures); 5) major contraband (for example, weapons, money (over $5), drugs or liquor); 6) accidents resulting in significant injury or posing serious risk of significant injury; 7) significant operational breakdowns (for example, no staff on a unit results in youth being unsupervised); 8) major physical plant problems or emergency conditions (for example, a power failure, flood, or sabotage by staff or youth); 9) escapes and attempted escapes; 10) significant destruction of property; or 11) any other extraordinary events that pose a serious risk of harm to youth and/or staff (for example, credible evidence of a planned gang activity or conspiracy to "take out" a staff person).
Self-injurious behavior - Any action taken by a youth with the intention of inflicting bodily harm to her/himself.
The OIJJFO analyzes DYRS’s critical incident and assault data monthly and presents it, by incident type, facility, and month, in the charts and tables below. The tables report on the total number of incidents and control for changes in population levels by calculating incident rates. The rates in the tables use the total number of “bed nights” per month as the denominator, which is the sum of the number of youth in the facility each day of the month. In order to make the numbers easier to compare, the rates are multiplied by 1,000 and presented as the number of incidents per 1,000 bed nights.
REPORTS
ANNUAL REPORTS
FY19 ANNUAL REPORT
FY18 ANNUAL REPORT
FY17 ANNUAL REPORT
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