Posted on 12/17/24
| News Source: FOX45
Baltimore, MD - Dec. 17, 2024 - More than a month into the new juvenile justice laws, the cases are starting to come to the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office.
When lawmakers adopted new legislation surrounding juvenile crime in Maryland, the plan requires state’s attorney’s offices to be notified sooner of a juvenile facing charges for a decision. Now, data from Baltimore City’s top prosecutor’s office sheds new light on how quickly cases are being processed.
According to Bates’ Office, in November, 103 cases were charged by the juvenile division; 33 of those were special, which means the juvenile facing charges was detained in some way; 70 cases were stack cases, which means the juvenile was not detained.
While 103 cases came from the Department of Juvenile Services in November, not all the incidents stemmed from November.
As of Nov. 1, kids in Maryland between the ages of 10 and 12 years old can now face charges for handgun violations, third-degree sex offenses, and aggravated animal abuse. If a kid under 13 years old steals a car for the first time, a child in need of supervision petition must be filed. The new law also extends probation length for juvenile offenders, and requires the state’s attorney’s offices to be involved sooner in the decision making process for charges.
“Certainly, leading up to the Nov. 1 date, DJS has been very cooperative in incorporating us in the training that they have done in order to ensure that their staff follows the policies that are laid out in the legislation,” explained Angela Galeano, chief of staff for the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office.
Galeano said it’s too early to tell whether the juvenile crime legislation is having an impact at driving down crime numbers. But, robberies and carjackings remain a top concern she said. Young offenders who are accused of robbery should be detained, given that robbery is classified as a violent crime, according to Galeano and City State’s Attorney Ivan Bates. However, there have been examples – like the Butchers Hill attack of an elderly man – of young people being arrested for robbery and later released.
“We have communicated with DJS about our concerns about individuals not being detained when they should be when they are arrested for robbery. What we have seen is probably about a 35% detention rate over 2023 and through about Oct. 31, 2024,” Galeano said. “Many of those individuals were either released to their parents or released to some other agency.”
During an interview, DJS Secretary Vincent Schiraldi said his agency does consider robbery a violent crime, but explained intake decisions are made from several factors.
“We have relayed to them [DJS] that we would like them to take a closer look at those matters and determine why individuals might have been released and the circumstances under which they were,” Galeano said.
There are also concerns about the effectiveness of the use of ankle monitors. FOX45 News first reported there were more kids under DJS supervision than previously indicated due to the use of two different types of ankle monitors: electronic monitoring and GPS monitors.
When asked why the agency has never made it clear there are different types of ankle monitors, DJS Deputy Secretary for Community Services Lisa Garry said it was not the intention of the department to mislead the public or partners.
“I think we can do a much better job educating about who the kids are on the various levels of supervision, why they are on those levels of supervision, and what we do in response to providing supervision,” Garry told FOX45 News. “We haven’t really taught the public as well as I wish we could. We are working on that now.”
The ankle monitors for electronic monitoring and GPS monitors are similar devices, according to Baltimore-area defense attorney Jeremy Eldridge. A GPS monitor provides specific details about where the person wearing it is, and the location can be pinpointed. Electronic monitoring allows for geo-fencing, Eldridge said.
During a previous interview with FOX45 News, DJS Secretary Vincent Schiraldi touted the effectiveness of ankle monitors, noting there is a 94.6% success rate, according to the latest statistics.
However, Eldridge pointed to the number of instances that have been reported of young people committing crimes while wearing ankle monitors. The ankle monitor has to be functional, there has to be someone watching the movement and compliance of the juvenile wearing the monitor, and the court system must be engaged to work to bring the juvenile back in compliance for the whole system to be considered successful, Eldridge said.
“If all of those cogs in that wheel, we have systemic failure which frankly, even with a 94% efficiency, if 6% isn’t working, the system is broken,” Eldridge said.
When asked about the examples of young people seemingly not viewing ankle monitors as a deterrent for more crime, Secretary Schiraldi said the statistics prove otherwise.
“They are working 94.6% of the time, so 19 out of 20 times. I don’t think that’s a catch and release policy,” Schiraldi said. “Most of the time, but not all of the time because nothing is 100%, they don’t re-offend.”
Galeano said the Baltimore City SAO still believes there’s “areas for improvement,” noting that DJS has indicated they are taking a closer look at the use of electronic and GPS monitoring.
“We feel like there’s more to be done to ensure the effectiveness; particularly the differences between electronic monitoring and GPS monitoring,” she said. “We would like to see more real-time tracking on both of those as opposed to one versus the other.”