MD announces juvenile justice reforms, launch of commission

Maryland’s Department of Juvenile Services announced reforms to its detention policies Tuesday, as well as the launch of a new commission on best practices.

Under the new policies, youths who are referred to the department after being accused of a violent felony and who are not detained will be placed on electronic monitoring before their initial court appearance.

Youths who are already on electronic monitoring and are charged with a violent felony will be detained, the department said in a news release.

The department also announced two new programs.

One of them, called Community Assistance for the Release Eligible, will work with system-involved youths who are neither detained nor placed on community detention to support them and their families and provide service referrals.

The second, called the Detention Diversion Advocacy Program, will support youths who are placed by the courts in the community while their cases are pending with supervision support.

The 26-member Commission on Juvenile Justice Reform and Emerging Best Practices is a statewide panel that will review juvenile services, facilities and programs. It’s part of a juvenile justice reform law approved by lawmakers this year.

The panel, which will hold its first meeting this month, is reviewing programs to divert children from the juvenile justice system.

The commission will focus on support and programming for girls in the juvenile justice system, the use of child-in-need-of-supervision petitions, the number of petitions authorized or denied by jurisdiction, and wait times for placement of children in facilities.

“The Maryland Department of Juvenile Services is focused on promoting accountability, rehabilitation, and preventing justice-involved young people from reoffending,” said Vincent Schiraldi, the state’s juvenile justice services secretary. “Using a data-informed approach and in partnership with our legislative leaders, law enforcement, community leaders, and other system stakeholders, we are committed to working with the Commission on Juvenile Justice Reform to build safer and stronger communities.”