BALTIMORE — The Maryland Senate gave final approval Monday to its version of the bill intended to bring more stringent accountability measures to the state’s juvenile justice system.
The legislation passed out of the Senate chamber on a vote of 43-2. Sens. Jill P. Carter of Baltimore City and Charles Sydnor of Baltimore County — both of whom are Democrats — cast the only opposition votes.
Senate Bill 744 will now be considered by the House chamber, which moved its version of the legislation, House Bill 814, to the Senate on Friday.
Though he voted in the bill’s favor, Senate Minority Leader Steve Hershey, a Republican representing the Eastern Shore, lamented that his party doesn’t think the legislation passed Monday evening “goes far enough,” and that there are “a lot of public safety bills caught up in [the Senate Judicial Proceedings] Committee” that should be addressed.
“This is a step, but it’s certainly not a leap,” Hershey said.
Sydnor, who opposed the bill alongside Carter when it moved out of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee last month, said after the floor session that there are measures amended into the House version of the bill that would make him more comfortable with casting a favorable vote.
“I can’t put a green vote up there if there are things that I’m seeing in the bill across the street that I’d like to see in our bill,” he said. “I just can’t do that.”
The legislation was brought in response to anecdotes from constituents, prosecutors and law enforcement about rising instances of crime, as well as an increase in car thefts, carjackings and firearms charges among Maryland youth.
Both versions of Monday’s bill started in the same posture, but were amended in their respective chamber of origin. Though their changes are mostly the same, lawmakers will have to address several policy differences, including discrepancies in what crimes children aged 10 to 12 could be charged with and the legislation’s official start date, before either bill will see the governor’s desk.
As passed Monday, the Senate version of the bill will, among several other measures, give judges the discretion to extend probationary periods if a child has two unexcused absences for their court-ordered diversionary program, or rule that they have completed the program in spite of those absences. It would also increase the number of charges 10- to 12-year-olds can face to include third-degree sex offenses and firearms offenses.
Children in that age range facing car theft charges will be automatically subject to Child in Need of Services, or CINS, petitions.
Under the Juvenile Justice Reform Act of 2022, children under 13 can only be charged for offenses defined as violent under Maryland law, including rape, murder and carjacking.
The Juvenile Justice Reform Act was crafted from recommendations of the Juvenile Justice Reform Council, which met for two years to study trends in state and national juvenile justice data and best practices.
Some Democratic lawmakers in both chambers have argued that both versions of the 2024 legislation roll back measures of that law that passed only two years ago. They also question the logic behind the bill’s measures due to a lack of hard data.
“Many of the numbers that I was hearing made me believe that many of the stories that we were hearing were overblown, so you really were not having a number of 10-, 11- and 12-year-olds stealing cars,” Sydnor said Monday. “This isn’t to say that they may not have been in the cars, but they were not the main perpetrators of many of these crimes that were put into the initial bill. I kind of stand where I was.”
Senate Bill 744 will now be considered before the House Judiciary Committee, and House Bill 814 will be heard in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee. Each bill needs to receive approval from the opposite chamber before it can be presented to the governor for his signature.
Senate and House lawmakers will likely convene to negotiate the bills’ differences.
“I don’t think any of it is insurmountable,” Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee Chair Will Smith, a Montgomery County Democrat and one of the bill’s sponsors, said after Monday’s vote.
The Senate also unanimously passed the NyKayla Strawder Memorial Act Monday evening.
The bill, sponsored by Carter, was initially brought before the legislature in 2023.
Under the legislation named in honor of the 15-year-old girl who was shot to death by a nine-year-old boy in 2022, complaints alleging the involvement of children under 13 in the death of another person would be required to be forwarded to the Department of Juvenile Services. Upon receipt, agency intake officers would be mandated to file CINS petitions or delinquency petitions to connect those children with rehabilitative services.
The bill named in Strawder’s honor will now be considered in the House chamber. There is a little over a month left before Maryland’s 90-day legislative session adjourns for the year.
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Amanda Smith is a dedicated U.S. correspondent with a passion for uncovering the stories that shape the nation. With a background in political science, she provides in-depth analysis and insightful commentary on domestic affairs, ensuring readers are well-informed about the latest developments across the United States.
