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The Maryland General Assembly passed a juvenile justice reform measure last year to restructure how the state deals with young people involved in certain crimes by providing them resources versus detaining them behind bars and prosecuting them in court.

Juvenile justice was a major topic in 2023 after several high-profile shootings and crimes, including a mass shooting at the Brooklyn Homes community in Baltimore for which听. Several months later in November, Baltimore police arrested two juveniles, ages 12 and 14, who assaulted, robbed and tried to steal a woman鈥檚 car, before being released several hours later.

Also in November,听听reported the arrest of about a dozen teenagers for stealing or carjacking. All of them were later released to their parents.

That鈥檚 why some lawmakers, state鈥檚 attorneys and law enforcement officials want tweaks made to the new juvenile justice law when the next legislative session begins Jan. 10.

鈥淚 definitely see that they need to be made and I pray this is the session that they will be made,鈥� said Del. Rachel Mu帽oz (R-Anne Arundel).

Mu帽oz, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, which held听听about juvenile justice issues in the fall, joined her Republican colleagues in November to call for enacting stiffer penalties on crime or rolling back portions of the reform laws.

Among the proposals are changes to the听听that went into effect Oct. 1, 2022.

Part of the law states that an officer 鈥渃annot conduct a custodial interrogation鈥� of a child until an attorney has been consulted. Some lawmakers propose that a parent should be able to consent to such questioning.

Mu帽oz praised two of the state鈥檚 top prosecutors 鈥� Prince George鈥檚 County State鈥檚 Attorney Aisha Braveboy (D) and Baltimore State鈥檚 Attorney Ivan Bates (D) 鈥� for听听Dec. 14 that includes a 鈥減arent responsibility act鈥� to require parents to enforce juvenile home monitoring guidelines and possibly hold them responsible for truancy. The prosecutors also support changing the limitations of the child interrogation and juvenile probation laws.

鈥淭here are some really constructive conversations happening about parental consent for juvenile interrogation,鈥� Mu帽oz said. 鈥淭hat would take a lot of the weight off the police officers because they鈥檝e been really having a hard time not being able to speak to people who were not even involved in a crime but witnessed it. That might help us to [improve] public safety.鈥�

Sen. Jill Carter (D-Baltimore), who sponsored the reform measures, said in an interview that simple education would ensure a better understanding of the law.

In terms of the child interrogation law, Carter said 鈥渋t is not true鈥� that all lawyers will advise a child to not speak with the police after taken into custody or detained for an alleged offense.

According to the law, an officer may conduct a lawful interrogation of a child if the officer 鈥渞easonably believes that the information sought is necessary to protect against a threat to public safety,鈥� and to ask 鈥渜uestions reasonably necessary to obtain the information鈥�to protect the individual from an imminent threat to the life鈥� of that child.

Any interrogation must be recorded, according to the law.

鈥淲hat I鈥檝e been able to ascertain [is] that there are certain leading law enforcement officials and certain leading prosecutors in the state that have been personally confused, or have not bothered to understand the law,鈥� Carter said. 鈥淚鈥檝e been consistently saying that anybody that says they cannot talk to kids, is highly misinformed or being disingenuous.鈥�

鈥楴eed data鈥�

Del. Luke Clippinger (D-Baltimore), who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, said the discussion around juvenile justice must be broader, including working with state鈥檚 attorneys, law enforcement officials, public defenders and the state Department of Juvenile Services (DJS).

Within those conversations, he said, there must be data.

For instance, he asked what happens if a young person was arrested at age 13 and no charges were brought to the department, 鈥淲hat happens six months from now? A year? Two years? When they鈥檙e 18? What happened? How many times do police officers make an arrest? We need to aggregate that data.鈥�

Clippinger, a prosecutor in Anne Arundel County, continued: 鈥淪omething like that can allow us to keep the privacy of the kids in place while we get real genuine data that can help us identify what works and what doesn鈥檛.鈥�

He said the committee will assess the length of time children are on probation.

That was also part of the legislative priorities presented by Braveboy and Bates, who propose extending the probationary period for juveniles guilty of a firearm misdemeanor from six months to two years. For young people found guilty of committing a violent felony, probation would be lengthened from two years to a maximum of four years.

Clippinger and Sen. William C. Smith Jr. (D-Montgomery County), chair of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, said the state鈥檚 Children in Need of Supervision protocols will also be assessed. The process, also known as CINS and overseen by the Department of Juvenile Services, allows representatives from law enforcement and various agencies to fill out a form to refer youth and their families to a variety of services.

The Judiciary Committee briefings held in the fall revealed that some jurisdictions utilize the CINS referrals and some don鈥檛. Clyde Boatwright, president of the state鈥檚 Fraternal Order of Police, said at one of the hearings that some police officers don鈥檛 fill the forms because there鈥檚 no remedy when youth are sent to juvenile services.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a tool in the box that鈥檚 not being leveraged. That鈥檚 a huge deal,鈥� Smith said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 how you hold people accountable. That鈥檚 how you supervise [young people]. That鈥檚 how you get the services they need so they don鈥檛 reoffend. If you鈥檙e not even leveraging that, we need to know and we need to understand that.鈥�

Carter said she will reintroduce a child in need of supervision bill from last year that unanimously passed the Senate but failed to make it out of the House Judiciary Committee.听听was named after NyKayla Strawder, a 15-year-old girl shot in August 2022 by a nine-year-old boy. The shooting happened in Carter鈥檚 district.

The bill would make it mandatory for an intake officer to file a CINS petition if a child under the age of 13 commits an offense that results 鈥渋n the death of a victim.鈥�

鈥淚 really don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 a bad bill. I think it could be helpful,鈥� she said.

Meanwhile, the Department of Juvenile Services received a three-year, $750,000 federal grant to implement the Second Chance Community-Based Reentry program.

Eric Solomon, spokesperson for the department, said in an email that some of the money will help youth committed to the agency for out-of-home placement and strengthen the agency鈥檚 reentry process. The funding will also be used toward education and apprenticeships programs.

The state鈥檚 juvenile court committed 260 young people to Juvenile Services in fiscal year 2022, according to the department.

鈥淭his grant will enhance our reentry process by connecting youth to services prior to their release so they can have a more seamless transition into community supervision,鈥� Juvenile Services Secretary Vinny Schiraldi said in a statement. 鈥淭he department understands that there is a better way to serve young people as they navigate the process of reentry, a way that will allow us to help youth meet their fullest potential and reduce recidivism.鈥�

Schiraldi wasn鈥檛 available for comment the last week of December.

Other priorities

听Smith said one priority bill for the upcoming session would be creating a correctional ombudsman unit in the Office of the Attorney General to oversee the state Department of Public Safety and Corrections.

The bill, which is supported by听听(D), passed the Senate but died in the House Rules Committee near the end of last year鈥檚 session.

The goal would be for the correctional ombudsman unit to mirror the Juvenile Justice Monitoring Unit, an independent agency within the attorney general鈥檚 office. Employees are permitted to make announced and unannounced inspections and visits to facilities, assess various programs and report to the governor and General Assembly.

House Majority Leader David Moon (D-Montgomery) said there鈥檚 a plan to reintroduce听, which would have changed penalties for drug trafficking in light of cannabis legalization and increased penalties for gun crimes including trafficking and possession of a stolen gun.

It failed to pass in the听听last year.

鈥淚t got pretty far through. Hopefully, we can bring it back,鈥� Moon said.

During the fall, Moon served as co-chair of the听. The legislative work group was created to assess whether prosecutors鈥� policies and practices are fair and equitable.

One work group recommendation that will be presented in a report to the House Judiciary and Senate Judicial Proceedings committees is to ensure case management systems are modernized in all 23 counties and the city of Baltimore.

鈥淲e are very supportive of transparency,鈥� said Prince George鈥檚 State鈥檚 Attorney Aisha Braveboy (D). 鈥淥ne of the considerations that the legislature has to make is whether or not spend down an unfunded mandate to state鈥檚 attorney鈥檚 offices, or if the legislature will be proactive in ensuring that we have the resources needed in order to provide the type of information being requested in a timely manner.鈥�

Moon said the legislature will try to allocate money for start-up costs and find state and federal grants to upgrade current software.

鈥淏ut we鈥檙e going to have to see what鈥檚 possible in terms of seeding that with money in a tight budget environment,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to have to be a little bit creative to try to get some financial support out there to [not] make this an unfunded mandate.鈥�