District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb introduced legislation Tuesday that would reform the city’s Department of Youth Rehabilitative Services, as juvenile crime continues to sweep the city.

Schwalb said he is introducing the legislation because young people who commit crimes “must face consequences when they break the law” and that he has “become increasingly concerned” over the department’s work.

“Too many people across all eight Wards don’t feel safe right now, and residents are rightly demanding swift action from their elected leaders,” Schwalb said in a statement Tuesday. “Young people must face consequences when they break the law, but once our office has prosecuted them, the District must work to ensure that they won’t re-offend and will go on to become productive members of our communities.

“As the District’s chief prosecutor of juvenile crime, I am focused on outcomes and results,” he added. “Since taking office last year, I have become increasingly concerned about whether DYRS is providing sufficient supervision and intervention to ensure that committed young people don’t re-offend. The ROAD Act will help get DYRS back on track, and create a roadmap towards effective intervention, oversight and accountability, and improved public safety.”

The Recidivism Reduction, Oversight, and Accountability for DYRS Act would mandate that the department rewrite its practices for rehabilitating young criminals.

The bill would also give the district courts more authority to intervene in the cases where the department is not giving proper services to juveniles, along with creating permanent independent oversight over the department.

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The proposed legislation comes as Washington has garnered national headlines for spiking crime in recent years, with many of the problems stemming from juveniles committing crimes. Mayor Muriel Bowser and the D.C. Council have passed several pieces of legislation within the past year in a bid to reverse the troubling crime trends in the district.

A study from the D.C. Criminal Justice Coordinating Council released in 2022 showed that 92.7% of juveniles committed to the department were rearrested, something the attorney general pointed to in his announcement of the legislation.