Youth charging reform bill passes Maryland legislature, goes to Moore
It took about 14 years, but it’s done.
The House of Delegates voted 92-39 on Monday to give final approval to Senate Bill 323, which limits the number of offenses for which youth can be automatically charged in adult courts. The bill now goes to Gov. Wes Moore (D). who is expected to sign it.
Sen. William C. Smith Jr. (D-Montgomery), the bill’s sponsor, called passage in both chambers “a significant step forward,” even as advocates and some Democratic legislators were saying it’s only a first step and will need to be strengthened in the future to help more youth.
“I think that will solidify and strengthen the arguments for further reforms down the line,” Smith said Monday evening after the Senate adjourned. “It’s a great day in terms of government efficiency, in terms of public safety, better public safety outcomes for youth, for the state of Maryland, for Marylanders.”
Approval came after a 75-minute debate in the House, where Republicans urged their Democratic colleagues to understand that youth who are repeat violent offenders or charged with serious crimes should face severe consequences.
“A firm hand right from the start can sometimes save a child’s life,” said Del. Lauren Arikan (R-Harford).
But the Democratic-majority House easily rejected four Republican amendments and a request from House Minority Whip Jesse Pippy (R-Frederick) to hold the bill for an hour to give lawmakers a chance to confer with the Department of Legislative Services “on what this bill actually does.”
“This is a serious piece of legislation,” Pippy said. “This is a very important bill. It’s one hour. So, if we can’t have that, I don’t know what to tell you.”
Pippy’s request was rejected 88-37.
Aides to the governor were not able to confirm Monday whether or not he would sign the bill, but did note that the administration has supported it throughout the session. Juvenile Services Secretary Betsy Fox Tolentino and Dorothy Lennig, executive director of the Governor’s Office of Crime Prevention and Policy, both testified in support of the bill during committee hearings.
SB 323 would raise the age when a youth could be tried as an adult for most crimes from 14 to 16, but it would still send 14- and 15-year-olds directly to adult court for first-degree murder or rape charges. The bill also specifies that 16-year-olds charged with offenses such as first-degree assault and some firearms offenses would remain in juvenile court.
The bill incorporated language from Sen. Sara Love’s Senate Bill 296 that prohibits youth charged as adults from being “detained or confined” in an adult prison. The only exception would be if no “secure juvenile detention area” is immediately available, in which case a youth could be processed in an adult jail, but not be held for more than six hours.
The bill requires annual reports by the Governor’s Office of Crime Prevention and Policy to the General Assembly and the Commission on Juvenile Justice and Emerging and Best Practices by Oct. 1, 2027, and every Oct. 1 thereafter.
The reports would include the number of youths housed in facilities with adult offenders on a monthly basis, the number of youths charged as adults and a listing of those offenses. It would also require the number of any federal violations that prohibit youth “from having sight and sound contact with adult offenders.”
Another report, by Juvenile Services, in consultation with the Governor’s Crime Prevention office and the Administrative Office of the Courts, would include average length of stay for youth awaiting placement in a juvenile detention facility, the number of cases in which a juvenile court waives or declines to waive jurisdiction and the number of cases in which a court transfers a case to juvenile court.
That report must also be submitted to the General Assembly and the juvenile justice commission.
Maryland’s system of automatically charging youth as adults in some cases is an outlier among states — critics have been fond of pointing out that only Alabama sends more 14- to 17-year-olds to adult court.
A commission work group last year recommended ending the practice of automatically charging youth as adults, “with judicial discretion to waive youth into adult court when warranted. This reform reflects national best practice and aligns Maryland with federal law.”
The bill as introduced, however, did not go that far. It more closely resembled the final version, in hopes of attracting conservative Democrats and Republicans. The bill did have one GOP co-sponsor, Sen. Chris West (R-Baltimore and Carroll).
“This is a product of compromise,” said House Majority Whip Ashanti Martinez (D-Prince George’s), who voted for the measure Monday. “We’re deciding that we’re going to make sure kids are seen as kids here in our state. That they are redeemable. That we give them the opportunity to be the best person that they can and provide pathways for progress. This allows us to do that.”