John D. Harden

2 weeks ago | washingtonpost.com | Robert Samuels |Lauren Lumpkin |John D. Harden

How D.C.’s failure to curb truancy fueled a surge in youth crime (washingtonpost.com) How D.C.’s failure to curb truancy fueled a surge in youth crime By Robert Samuels; Lauren Lumpkin; John D. Harden 2025060909000000 As the first bell rang at Brookland Middle School on April 3, 2024, Irving LaBoard's desk sat empty. An hour earlier, police had found his body in Fort Dupont Park. He had been shot and killed. Irving was 14, an eighth-grader.

2 weeks ago | washingtonpost.com | Nicole Dungca |John D. Harden |Keith L. Alexander

D.C. teens in need of rehabilitation wait months in a detention center (washingtonpost.com) D.C. teens in need of rehabilitation wait months in a detention center By Nicole Dungca; John D. Harden; Keith L. Alexander 2025060909000000 Washington's juvenile justice agency appeared to finally be reformed.

Mar 2, 2025 | washingtonpost.com | Marissa Lang |John D. Harden

If you live in an American city, chances are you have seen this house:Its exterior is gray with monochromatic accents. Maybe there’s a pop of color — a red, blue or yellow door. The landscaping is restrained, all clean lines and neat minimalism. Sleek metal address numbers appear crisp in a modern sans-serif font. Some might call it elegant, others boring. The look itself is purposely unremarkable. Real estate agents and paint companies use words such as “quiet,” “calm” and “neutral” to describe it.

Feb 23, 2025 | washingtonpost.com | John D. Harden |Rachel Weiner |Jasmine Hilton

Pedestrians are now twice as likely to be killed in the D.C. area as they were a decade ago, even as more local leaders promise safer streets. For the third consecutive year in 2024, the Washington region recorded more than 100 pedestrian deaths. The rise, fueled by an increasing number of people being hit at night and by drunk drivers, parallels national trends that accelerated during the covid-19 pandemic.

Dec 31, 2024 | washingtonpost.com | Peter Hermann |Olivia George |Emily Davies |Keith L. Alexander |John D. Harden

Violent crime in D.C. receded this year, reversing a generational spike in killings and robberies in 2023 that rendered the nation's capital one of America's deadliest cities and thrust it into a presidential election cycle as an avatar for dysfunction. Documented killings and shootings each were down roughly 30 percent, District data shows, part of an across-the-board drop in crime categories that brought D.C. in line with other major urban centers after a year spent as an outlier.