Proposed Maryland Legislation Would Harm Children and Threaten Progress on Juvenile Justice Reform

MARYLAND – Today, Maryland’s legislative leadership released a bill that would reverse reforms passed in 2022 under the Juvenile Justice Reform Act (JJRA), a bill that limited young children’s involvement with the justice system, avoided detention and commitment of youth except for the most serious cases, and limited their terms of probation. The JJRA backed the reforms overwhelmingly recommended by the state’s Juvenile Justice Reform Commission, which studied research on youth justice policy and practices for 18 months and received feedback from experts about evidence-based responses to youth offending.

Josh Rovner, Director of Youth Justice for The Sentencing Project, a member of the Maryland Youth Justice Coalition, released the following statement in response to the new proposal:

“For years, Maryland’s leaders studied ways to reform the state’s harmful juvenile justice system. Now, the legislature has decided to ignore that expertise, and moved toward a vast expansion of the number of youth, particularly Black youth, under the supervision of law enforcement. Maryland’s prior overuse of probation, detention, and incarceration undermined public safety by damaging young people’s physical and mental health, impeding their educational and career success, and often exposing them to abuse. Governor Moore must work with the legislature to fix this dangerous proposal.”