The debate over youth crime and what to do about it featured heavily in this year’s Maryland General Assembly. One of the more prominent bills to come out of the session that ended last week makes a slew of changes to the state’s juvenile justice system.
Among the most controversial parts of the bill expands the list of crimes with which a child between 10 and 12 years old can be charged. Current law allows prosecutors charge these children with violent crimes, including murder, rape, assault and carjacking. The legislation adds several misdemeanor gun offenses, as well as animal cruelty and third-degree sex offenses.
“We create a carve out for 10 to 12 year olds, where they may not be detained,” Del. Luke Clippinger, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, said in a recent interview. “However, detention is a term of art, and they could potentially see community detention, which could be electronic home monitoring or other programming closer to where they live.”
The legislation creates a different process for children between 10 and 12 years old who are accused of car theft. In those circumstances, the Department of Juvenile Services would be required to file a CINS petition, which stands for Children In Need of Supervision. With a judge’s approval, the child would receive DJS services and in some cases may be removed from their home.
An analysis by The Baltimore Banner found that each year an average of about 30 children between 10 and 12 years old are accused of the crimes in the bill.
“When we put even one kid under supervision, it should be a big deal, and it is a big deal. I don't question that for a second,” Clippinger said. “But I also believe that, in the bigger picture, that these are crimes that are more serious, and that deserve that additional attention.”
Despite the potentially small number of children affected by the changes, the Maryland Office of the Public Defender has been vocally critical about the move, which reverses steps lawmakers have taken in recent years to prevent young children from being charged with crimes.
Over policing is common not just among adults in Black and Latino communities, but also among children in those communities, said Elizabeth Hilliard, acting director of government relations for the Office of the Public Defender.
“We are very concerned that the breadth of the scope that DJS is looking at and that the system is looking at — broadening that even a little bit — will result in further over policing of Black and brown 10, 11 and 12 year olds from marginalized communities,” she said.
Data shows that when children interact with the criminal justice system at that young age, they are more likely to experience trauma, struggle in school, or be involved in criminal activity later in life, she said.
The legislation also alters the process of referring a child to a diversion program.
Current law allows DJS to refer certain children to diversion programs without alerting the local state’s attorney’s office. Prosecutors have criticized this system because they say they don’t learn about many juvenile arrests.
With this bill, lawmakers passed a requirement that DJS notify prosecutors when they decide not to recommend formal charges and instead start a child in a diversion program.
Clippinger described this as one of the “guardrails” lawmakers put around the juvenile justice system, to ensure greater accountability.
But public defenders are critical of the change.
Diversionary programs allow children to begin rehabilitation right away, while the criminal justice system can take months to reach a conclusion. Hilliard described a scenario where a child starts the diversionary program, then the prosecutor decides to file formal charges, interrupting the child’s progress.
“For the state's attorney to come in and change that undermines the relationship that the child may have been building with the individuals that they've been working with through the diversionary program,” she said.
She said her office worries that the changes will result in fewer children in diversion programs and more in court.
The legislation also speeds up some of DJS’s processes; requires the agency to notify prosecutors, defense attorneys and the court when a child violates the terms of electronic home monitoring; creates a commission to study the juvenile justice system; and funds a violence interruption program.
“There's several points of failure throughout this entire thing,” Sen. Will Smith, chair of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, said, referring to the juvenile justice system. “We're trying to make sure that there are paper trails, that there's oversight, that there's accountability, and that there are resources to provide the services.”
Gov. Wes Moore has said he plans to sign the legislation. If signed into law, part of the bill takes effect June 1, and the rest takes effect Nov. 1.
