D.C. already has among the highest rates of youth involvement in the juvenile justice system in the country. Since April, youth justice advocates have been sounding alarms that a newly-introduced bill will only make this worse.
Mayor Muriel Bowser introduced the bill on April 3, aiming to address both truancy and youth crime. Some advocates say that the bill will increase the number of court-involved and incarcerated minors in D.C. while ignoring the root causes of attendance or behavioral issues.
The bill, called the Utilizing Partnerships, Local Interventions for Truancy and Safety (UPLIFT) Amendment Act, orders the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) to resolve all truancy cases, requiring court action when absenteeism persists after families have been referred to the Department of Human Services.
This comes amid high rates of chronic absenteeism and truancy, which remain well above pre-pandemic levels. Almost four in 10 D.C. public school students were considered truant last school year, meaning that they had at least 10 full-day, unexcused absences from school.
Aside from school attendance, the UPLIFT Amendment Act also seeks to address violent youth crime by limiting prosecutorial discretion, or the ability of prosecutors like the OAG to decide what charges, if any, to file in a case. The Act would require the OAG to more aggressively prosecute minors for violent and gun-related offenses, likely increasing the number of young people facing prosecution or incarceration.
Tayo Belle, deputy director of the School Justice Project (SJP), told the Voice that the bill will likely exacerbate inequities in D.C.’s school and justice system. SJP advocates for education policy and justice system reforms in D.C. and provides legal services to young people, particularly those with disabilities, who are involved in the D.C. justice system.
“[The bill] will indeed lead to more young people that are already vulnerable, already struggling with barriers to school engagement and even enrollment, being further pushed into court involvement and further into the school-to-prison pipeline,” Belle said.
When asked about the concern that the bill will increase court involvement and incarceration, a spokesperson for the D.C. Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education (ODME) pointed to the bill’s goals, including keeping youth safe and in school.
“We must do everything we can to ensure that our youth live—and live the best lives that they can,” the spokesperson wrote in an email statement to the Voice. “To keep young people and the wider public safe, we must have clear and fair rules that provide both support and accountability.”
Bowser framed the bill as encouraging school engagement, addressing truancy, and keeping students out of trouble.
“We know that the safest place for our young people is in schools,” Bowser said in a press release. “This is about working together as a community to put meaningful interventions in place that better support young people and their families.”
Youth justice advocates like Belle support Bowser’s goal of keeping young people in school, but say that the UPLIFT Amendment Act’s approach won’t be effective in meeting this goal.
“This is a real problem in D.C.—truancy is a problem. We want there to be every young person attending school,” Belle said. “But what we know doesn’t work is further referring students into the court system. We shouldn’t be reverting to those policies just because we think it’s a quick fix.”
The bill also includes $1.6 million in funding to create a new temporary alternative school, or a school that would serve as an alternative to suspension for students with behavioral issues.
Zoe Smith, the volunteer manager for Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) for Children of D.C., a local chapter of a national organization that pairs court-involved minors with trained adult volunteers who act as mentors and advocate for them in court, said that the temporary alternative school could harm students by pulling them away from their support systems at school.
“The divergent school could have the potential to be a really good spot for resources, but also, it has the ability to be a disruption in the child’s life and can cause a whole host of other issues,” Smith said.
According to the ODME spokesperson, the proposed alternative school will offer students greater access to resources.
“We’re changing suspension rules to offer an alternative-to-suspension and provide a safe place where students with the most serious infractions and behavioral health needs can receive education and support services beyond what a traditional school can provide,” the spokesperson wrote.
The alternative school would be similar to programs D.C. has used to address behavioral issues in the past, Belle said. She referenced CHOICE Academy, a now-defunct alternative middle and high school in D.C.’s Ward 5 for students who had been expelled or were serving long-term suspensions.
Some have criticized CHOICE Academy for taking students away from their school communities and for lacking resources like support for students with disabilities. Belle said that the Academy did not effectively meet student needs or improve behavior.
“[CHOICE Academy] did not work, it was a failed program. It shuttered its doors because it ultimately didn’t lead to success,” Belle said. “So we are obviously not supportive of something like this returning to the district.”
Belle suggested that efforts like offering educational stipends, free uniforms, Uber rides to school, and meals are all examples of more effective ways to address barriers to school engagement and reduce truancy than alternative schools.
Advocates also said that marginalized students—including low-income students, students with disabilities, and students of color—are the most likely to be impacted by the bill, whether through placement in the new alternative school or via higher rates of court involvement, prosecution, and incarceration.
“You cannot shy away from systemic oppression in these conversations,” Smith said. “Anytime choices like this are made, it affects marginalized groups more.”
Nationally, students of color are more likely to be suspended or expelled from schools or to be involved in the juvenile justice system, as are students with disabilities. Smith said that 88% of the young people CASA works with are Black.
Of minors involved in the justice system, 70 percent have a learning, sensory, or mental health disability. Much of SJP’s work centers around supporting students with disabilities, and Belle spoke to how the bill would affect these students.
“An attack on the students who are considered to be truant, who will then be court involved, is really an attack on students with disabilities who may have other barriers to education that are impacting their decision not to walk through those schoolhouse doors,” Belle said.
Eduardo Ferrer (MSB ’02, LAW ’05), a Georgetown law professor and the policy director for Georgetown’s Juvenile Justice Initiative, said that the bill doesn’t address the systemic problems behind higher rates of chronic absenteeism in D.C. for students with disabilities and those who are low-income, housing insecure, or involved with the child welfare system.
“You can’t, on the one hand, say we’re going to try and get to the root causes of your absenteeism, while ignoring those root causes when it comes to discipline,” Ferrer said.
In addition to the impact on students, Ferrer also criticized the bill for curtailing the OAG’s discretion. In some violent and gun-related crime cases, the UPLIFT Amendment Act would ban the use of plea bargains and diversion programs, which aim to minimize the incarceration of young people and direct them to other services and resources.
“I think the elected, independent Attorney General should maintain their discretion. That was a large part of the reason for having it be an independent office,” Ferrer said.
Still, Ferrer acknowledged that the bill may have some positive effects, including reducing bureaucratic inefficiency.
The bill will require that chronically absent students are more quickly referred to the Department of Human Services (DHS), rather than other agencies. Ferrer hopes that this will help quickly connect students and families with the resources they need.
“Instead, you just squarely say earlier than we’re doing now, to DHS, come in and provide some case management support,” Ferrer said. “And, hopefully—knock on wood—case managers whose job it is to actually connect those young people with services will make it happen quicker.”
The ODME spokesperson also emphasized that quicker referrals to DHS will benefit students.
“UPLIFT recognizes many of the barriers students face in getting to school are due to resource challenges, such as housing or food insecurity, which DHS is well-positioned to address through its early intervention services to youth and families,” the spokesperson wrote.
However, Ferrer said that this change will not be effective if the resources DHS relies on are not adequately funded.
In June, the D.C. Council passed the 2025 budget, which includes cuts to major social services and housing programs, such as a 40% budget decrease for the Emergency Rental Assistance Program. Moreover, there are 2,200 D.C. families who will be pushed out of the Rapid Rehousing rental subsidy program this year, but the budget includes only about 600 new housing vouchers.
“DHS case managers are going to need to be able to refer young people to services,” Ferrer said. “If we’re not funding housing, if we’re not funding behavioral health for young people—both of which appear to be taking budget cuts this year—then you can have all the case managers in the world. And if you don’t have the actual services that case managers identify, that young people and their families need, then we’re still gonna be spinning our wheels.”
Smith hopes that CASA for Children of D.C. will be able to offer resources and support to those who may become court-involved as a result of this bill. Still, she said, the bill seems more focused on political optics than what young people in D.C. truly need.
“Increasing resources can be beneficial,” Smith said. “But overall, I feel like the attention about this bill is really on affecting the numbers and the crime stats more than improving the lives of children.”
