Call SB422 for a vote in JPR!

Please support SB422 to reduce the inappropriate prosecution of many
juveniles as adults! This bill was heard in the Senate Judicial Proceedings
Committee on February 4 and received strong support. I am concerned that
voting on this important bill should not be delayed.

Both U.S. Supreme Court rulings and nationwide scientific studies say charging juveniles as adults is bad policy. Adult prison makes juveniles more, not less, likely to commit later violent offenses. And it doesn’t deter new offenses by other juveniles, according to a 2007 nationwide study by the U.S. Department of Justice and Centers for Disease Control. Yet, except for Alabama, no other U.S. state shamefully sends more of its youth to adult prison than Maryland.

It is also important to note that SB 422 does not preclude handling cases when appropriate for adult court. The most serious charges against 16 and 17 year olds (murders, sex offenses, carjacks and gun crimes) still can be filed in adult court. And prosecutors can request a 'waiver' where a juvenile court judge, after a full evaluation and hearing, may decide to assign appropriate cases to adult court. 

Still more problems result from the current system:

1) Most so charged and held in adult detention centers become dropouts with increased crime rates.
2) Md. studies show 87% of those top charges end up being dismissed!

3) Especially harmful is the disparate racial treatment – as 80% of youth charged as adults in Md. are African-Americans.

4) Because adult courts move more slowly than juvenile courts, youth in adult detention facilities spend much more time in these harmful environments – at greater taxpayer expense!

Please give SB 422 a vote in the Senate JPR committee as soon as possible! Let’s allow our juvenile justice system to handle more of the juvenile cases that are appropriate for them!