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Thursday, August 15-August 21, 2024
Local. Relevant. Trusted.
VOL. 28,
NO. 184
Report: LA County youth from broken homes at greater risk of homelessness
Capitol breacher from SoCal gets 20-year prison sentence
By City News Service
joet@beaconmedianews.com
By Joe Taglieri
A man who authorities identified as David Nicholas Dempsey attacks U.S. Capitol Police with what appears to be pepper spray. | Photo courtesy of the U.S. Attorney's Office
F | Photo courtesy of Sardaka/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Y
oung adults in Los Angeles County who come from unstable family situations typically lack education and employment, often have mental health struggles and may have had involvement with the criminal justice system, according to a report released Tuesday by the Santa Monicabased RAND Corp. More than one-third of the people age 18 to 25 surveyed by RAND researchers reported involvement with the foster care system, indicating there is a strong association between foster care and housing instability for transition age youth. Despite such barriers, more than 95% of survey respondents expressed interest in
becoming housed, more than 60% were not in school but planned to attend, and nearly one-half were unemployed but actively looking for work, according to the survey. "While this group faces challenges finding support, it's encouraging that most of them are motivated to successfully transition and become stably housed," Sarah B. Hunter, the report's lead author and a senior behavioral scientist at RAND, said in a statement. "It's important to target this group for help as a strategy to reduce the number of people at risk of chronic homelessness." Although substantial investments have been made
to address homelessness in Los Angeles County, the number of people experiencing homelessness has continued to grow over the past decade. Researchers say that transition-age youth who are 18 to 25 years old represent an important population because resolving homelessness at an early age may prevent chronic homelessness and the consequences of living unsheltered, such as earlier mortality and increased morbidity, according to the think tank. The county's annual point-in-time count of unhoused residents found there were 3,718 transitionage young people experi-
encing homelessness in the region in 2023. RAND researchers surveyed 399 transition-age youth experiencing housing instability in Los Angeles County, with an emphasis on youth with foster care involvement. Participants were solicited from 18 youthoriented shelters and transitional housing programs, 15 drop-in centers for young people, and 11 street venues where homeless transition age youth congregate. The report, "Understanding the Needs of Transition Age Youth Navigating the Foster Care and Housing Systems in Los Angeles County," is available online at rand.org.
or attacking police during the 2021 U.S. Capitol breach, a Southern California resident Friday received a 20-year prison sentence, the secondlongest incarceration in the hundreds of rioter prosecutions that have occurred to date. David Nicholas Dempsey, 37, of Van Nuys at the time of his arrest and currently residing in Santa Ana, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth to 240 months in prison, 36 months of supervised release and was ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution, federal prosecutors announced. Court documents show Dempsey in photos extracted from video footage recorded on the Capitol's lower west terrace on Jan. 6, 2021. He is shown using a crutch and poles made of metal and wood to strike or launch at a line of law enforcement officers blocking the tunnel See Capitol Page 02
in front of the west terrace's entrance. Dempsey also appears to shoot a stream of pepper spray at police. Dempsey traveled to the District of Columbia with other Californians and attended the "Stop the Steal" rally at the Capitol's Ellipse on Jan. 6, according to court documents. "Dempsey was later interviewed standing near a wooden structure representing a hanging gallows, which was fitted with a noose and sign stating, 'This is Art,'" prosecutors said in a statement. "Dempsey wore a black helmet, vest, sunglasses, and an American flag gaiter covering his neck, mouth, and nose." During an expletive-filled interview, Dempsey called for the lynching of House Democrats Jerry Nadler and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, then-FBI Director James Comey and James Clapper, then the director of national