Maryland Gov. Wes Moore signed into law the Youth Charging Reform Act, which ends the automatic charging of minors as adults for certain gun and assault offenses, even as state prosecutors said keeping those youths in adult court can address their criminal behavior.
The signing ceremony Tuesday marked a major win for supporters of the bill, which had languished in the General Assembly for years and made Maryland one of the states that tried the most children as adults.
“It’s something that we have to reflect upon, that here in Maryland, we charge more children as adults than in every other state, other than Alabama,” said Senate President Bill Ferguson, Baltimore City Democrat.
“This bill will change that. It keeps cases in the right court from the start, which actually, and by the data, makes us safer and is better for those young people,” he said.
Department of Juvenile Services Secretary Betsy Fox Tolentino, who backed the legislation’s passage, said the bill will help streamline the judicial process for young people as well.
She said close to 85% of children tried as adults have their cases sent back to juvenile court or will have their cases dismissed altogether.
The bill’s signing means 16- and 17-year-olds charged with first-degree assault, gun possession, sale or transfer of a firearm, sale or transfer of a stolen firearm, use of a firearm during a drug crime, use of a firearm with a felony drug conviction and wearing or carrying a handgun can all start out in juvenile court.
The law also raises the age when children can be charged as adults from 14 to 16, but younger teens accused of murder or rape will still be sent to adult court.
“You need to give people an opportunity, you need to give them second chances, and I believe in that, especially a young child,” said House Speaker Joseline Pena-Melnyk, a Democrat who represents parts of Anne Arundel and Prince George’s counties.
Meanwhile, Maryland’s prosecutors see the new law, which takes effect Oct. 1, as a step backward.
Ivan Bates, the top prosecutor for Baltimore and president of the Maryland State’s Attorneys’ Association, said the law will undo the progress made after the General Assembly passed a juvenile justice package that was tougher on violent young offenders.
“A little over a year after that law went into effect, and we are finally starting to see a slow trend to actual justice for victims and some actual programming for these young offenders, and the General Assembly chooses to ignore the data once again and pass legislation that will allow youth with guns — who commit robberies and violent assaults — to be given a free pass time after time when they are caught illegally carrying and/or using a firearm,” Mr. Bates said.
He added that “violent juvenile crime continues to grow out of control because the Department of Juvenile Services is ill-equipped to handle these young, violent, repeat offenders.”
Mr. Bates has been a harsh critic of the state agency tasked with jailing and conducting oversight on criminal youth, and he often blames DJS for prematurely releasing juveniles linked to serious offenses.
Juveniles continue to be arrested in violent crimes throughout the state.
In Baltimore County, police arrested a 12-year-old boy and three girls, ages 12 to 14, in a May 18 mob attack that left a 13-year-old girl unconscious.
And 14- and 16-year-old boys were accused of committing a pair of gunpoint robberies for mopeds last month in East Baltimore.
Police said the older boy was jailed at the adult detention center, while the 14-year-old was released on electronic monitoring.
