ANNAPOLIS — The Maryland General Assembly passed a bill in the recently completed session that prohibits juvenile courts from committing a child to the Department of Juvenile Services for out-of-home placement for minor offenses, including trespass and possession of marijuana. ...

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ANNAPOLIS — Treatment and conditions for girls in the juvenile justice system are gradually improving nearly a year after the state separated and moved the most serious offenders, but work remains to be done, according to advocates and state officials. ...

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ANNAPOLIS — For the first time, Baltimore girls going through the juvenile justice system now have an alternative to detention while waiting to be adjudicated — an alternative that’s been available to boys for years. Instead of being locked up ...

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ANNAPOLIS – Committed girls at the troubled Thomas J.S. Waxter Children’s Center in Laurel will be transferred to J. DeWeese Carter Youth Facility on the Eastern Shore by November, according to the Department of Juvenile Services. The move addresses complaints ...

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ANNAPOLIS — In an attempt to fix the state’s most troubled agency without spending more money, lawmakers are asking the Department of Juvenile Services for reports rather than policy changes. A bill that would have mandated substantially equivalent services for ...

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ANNAPOLIS — The Maryland House and Senate took the teeth out of legislation requiring equal services for girls in the juvenile justice system last week, but Annapolis leaders, including Gov. Martin O’Malley, are confident that the new juvenile services secretary, ...

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Another fight over state-funded juvenile group homes ignited on the Senate floor Tuesday, with a bill to give private operators more time to meet the requirement that their workers be certified to take care of troubled youth. The operators had ...

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Stephanie S. Franklin spends most weekday mornings in court representing abused and neglected children and most afternoons visiting with her clients and their families at Mecca’s Place. The rest of her time is devoted to developing and growing the center, ...

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ANNAPOLIS — The governor’s proposed 2012 budget underfunds the Department of Juvenile Services by $7.2 million, according to an analysis unveiled last week. The analysis by the Department of Legislative Services, presented to the House Appropriations Committee Friday, says that ...

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Last year the General Assembly considered, but did not pass, a bill directing the Department of Juvenile Services to provide the girls it serves with a “range and quality of services substantially equivalent to those offered to males.” We supported ...

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