Hon. Charles L. Thomas, Jr. has served as the first Administrative Law Judge for the District of Columbia assigned to the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS) since August 2019. He currently presides over matters involving probable cause, detainee discipline, Interstate Compact on Placement of Children (ICPC), District of Columbia Government’s employee grievances, terminations, and residency claims, the Education Licensure Commission, and the Compulsory School Attendance Act. He also presides over administrative hearings relating to the revocation of juvenile parole rights, with the intent and aim of providing a fair process for youth while balancing the need to ensure effective community violence prevention.

Before his appointment, Judge Thomas served as a Hearing Officer for DYRS. In that role, he developed a comprehensive strategy to protect and expand the rights of individuals facing revocation of their liberty interests and freedoms in the District of Columbia. Prior to his career at DYRS, Judge Thomas worked for the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services as a Policy Advisor providing technical assistance and recommendations on city-wide violence prevention, critical community responses, summer activity and funding planning, community-based grants, truancy, and various other matters. Judge Thomas began his career as a law clerk then as an assistant general counsel with the District of Columbia’s Child and Family Services Agency, where he spent approximately eight years.

Judge Thomas received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of South Carolina and his Juris Doctor from Western Michigan University Law School.