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Carjackings and handgun violations by young people have skyrocketed since 2020 in Maryland, but overall youth violence has been declining for more than a decade, mirroring a national trend, a new Maryland Department of Juvenile Services report shows.
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Agency head Vincent N. Schiraldi released the 33-page report Tuesday, pushing back against what he says appears to be a perception that Maryland exited the pandemic gripped by a youth crime wave.
“Gun violence is real. It’s scary. It hurts people, hurts real people, including kids, and we need to pay serious attention to that,” said Schiraldi, who joined Gov. Wes Moore’s administration about eight months ago. “But if we don’t kind of look at the data, then we’re going to aim our responses and our solutions in the wrong direction.”
The comments from Schiraldi, a national leader on criminal justice reform, echo a message that Moore (D), the state’s first Black governor, delivered this summer at a National Press Club event when he addressed what he called a false narrative around violence that labels communities instead of empowering them.
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The data, Schiraldi said, should drive policy discussions about how best to further stem youth violence while also attacking Maryland’s top standing in the disproportionate incarceration of young Black men — a priority Moore listed in his inaugural address in January.
The analysis published Tuesday shows that juvenile arrests were down by 17 percent in fiscal 2023 when compared with fiscal 2020.
The release of the data comes two months after what is believed to be the largest single shooting in Baltimore’s history, which left two young people dead and 28 others, mostly teenagers, injured.
After the shooting, political pundits said crime and how Moore uses his bully pulpit to push policies that call for accountability while also addressing the societal ills that lead to criminal behavior will be a major test of his first term. The shooting and a recent city report that stated one person allegedly involved in the incident was under supervision by the Department of Juvenile Services have cast a spotlight on the agency and on Schiraldi’s plans for the department.
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Schiraldi expressed frustration in an interview and questioned the news media’s narrow focus on crime stories that he said “demonize” young Black men.
“We get kids graduating from high school and going to college every day. Nobody covers that. If somebody, one of those kids reoffends, you know, the news crews beat the ambulances to the scene,” he said. “That’s frustrating. I’m trying to get a bunch of kids who have been involved in crime [to] turn their lives around. And if all that ever gets said about them is bad stuff when they’re trying, and many of them are trying, and doing good stuff, and they’re going to just feel like society doesn’t care about them anymore, and they’ll be less likely to do good stuff.”
According to the data, juvenile arrests have increased since the drop during the pandemic, but they are not at pre-pandemic levels.
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Between fiscal 2020 and fiscal 2023, robberies committed by people under 18 years old dropped by 30 percent and felony sex offenses fell by 21.8 percent. But during the same time period, carjackings increased by 85.4 percent and handgun violations rose by 220 percent.
11-year-old charged in robberies as D.C. struggles to quell youth violence
The data shows a surge in auto theft offenses, more than doubling from 545 to 1,193 between the last two fiscal years.
“The concerning part for us is the categories of youth crime that are up, which includes handgun crimes, carjackings, and auto theft,” said Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy (D), who was briefed on the data late last week. “I think those are the areas that we need to focus on to impact juvenile crime, guns in particular.”
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She said the “ease and access to weapons, including ghost guns and regular handguns,” are part of what propels young people to commit violent crimes. Youths being victims of crime has also increased, according to the report.
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Braveboy said her office is focused on expanding Maryland’s gang statute to address crimes committed by youths because in far too many cases, she said, adults are supplying guns to young people and benefiting from the violence.
Young people between the ages of 10 and 19 in Maryland represented 14.9 percent of the total number of people charged with violent crimes, a percentage that mirrors the 14.1 percent share nationally.
Schiraldi joined Moore’s administration in January with a chief mission to minimize the use of detention through prevention and to increase access to diversion.
Since then, he launched a $5 million Safe Summer initiative for 12 jurisdictions to provide activities for young people during the summer and laid the groundwork for an academy providing wraparound services to at least 100 young people under state supervision who are at the highest risk of shooting someone or being shot.
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Initially envisioned as #Thrive25 with plans to target 25 young people, Thrive Academy is now expected to launch in early October with Baltimore City and Baltimore County, Schiraldi said, before expanding to Prince George’s and throughout the state.
It would include: money to incentivize participation, a formerly incarcerated person who would serve as a life coach, and outings to museums and bowling. The “suitcase for success” also provides financial assistance with college, stipends to pay for internships in vocational and technical fields, and relocation costs if they and their families are in danger.
Schiraldi said it would be a “serious investment” but could not provide an estimate on the program’s cost.
Schiraldi previously served as a secretary of New York City’s corrections department, a director of juvenile corrections in the District, and as a senior researcher at the Columbia School of Social Work and at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government Program in Criminal Justice.
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While most of Moore’s cabinet choices sailed through the Senate confirmation process, Schiraldi was one of his most controversial picks.
Republicans called him too “radical” and used their vote to convey their criticism of the state’s juvenile justice reforms, Schiraldi’s work in the field, and his robust support for restorative justice practices and rehabilitation programs for youths.
Moore, who has called for an “all of the above” approach to stemming violence that includes tougher sentences and more police, has emphasized the connection between poverty and crime. He said the issue has been weaponized by politicians and that even though violent crime has dropped across the country since the 1990s, the fear of violence is rampant.
Attorney General Anthony G. Brown (D), who was briefed by Schiraldi last week, said he found the data “very encouraging.”
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Brown said there appears to be a misperception that “thousands and thousands of young people … are wreaking havoc throughout our communities when in fact it’s a small number.” He said he supports Schiraldi’s plan to target the most at-risk teens, providing a “layered” approach to diversion, but he had some questions about its cost.
Braveboy agrees that solutions such as Thrive Academy are effective, similar to the Family Justice Academy coordinated through her office, the Office of the Sheriff and community-based organizations.
“Oftentimes it is the family that needs assistance … there are young people and parents dealing with mental health issues. We have found people who have some housing insecurity, and job insecurity,” she said. “The goal is to figure out what the underlying needs are, and concerns are, and issues are, so that we can help create stronger individuals who can make better decisions.”
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