Accountability for young people at the Department of Juvenile Services remains at the center of the debate for some people in the Baltimore community as examples of juvenile crimes continue.
During an interview with FOX45, acting Secretary Betsy Fox Tolentino said she wanted to ensure DJS follows Maryland laws.
“I believe that we have to ensure that our operations are very closely aligned and so I’m going to dig in and see where do we need to make some tweaks to be able to make sure that again, we’re following all the rules that are set out for us in a way that gets the best outcomes for our young people,” she said when asked by FOX45 if she believed the agency was not following Maryland laws under the previous secretary.
From June 11 through June 26, the first two weeks of Tolentino’s tenure, law enforcement forwarded 689 complaints to DJS, according to an agency spokesperson. Of those complaints, law enforcement requested detention 86 times; DJS initially detained the juvenile 23 times, put the young person on GPS ankle monitor 28 times, and released the juvenile 35 times.
The rest of the cases were either resolved at intake, forwarded to various state’s attorney’s offices for review, or the young person was referred to programming for services.
But juvenile crime continues to be a concern for many. In Baltimore, a prominent pastor from Connecticut was in the city for a funeral. He told FOX45 he was carjacked by an armed teen.
“I forgive him, but he needs to go to jail, and he needs to serve time,” he said.
Baltimore Police later arrested a 16-year-old found in the pastor’s stolen vehicle, along with two other teens.
There have been other instances in Remington and Hampden recently involving young people. For example, a carjacking in Hampden involved five juveniles and three of them were wearing an ankle monitor already.
Meanwhile, violent crime continues to decline in Baltimore. Since 2022, homicides have dropped 62% in the city. Erek Barron took over as the U.S. Attorney for Maryland in October 2021 and sent the message to the region that the federal government was going to use an ‘Al Capone’ style of prosecution and go after gun crimes in the city.
In January 2023, Ivan Bates was also sworn in as the top prosecutor in Baltimore, vowing to hold repeat violent offenders accountable after years of more progressive prosecution policies from Marilyn Mosby.
“If you’re breaking the law, you’re going around with illegal handguns on the street, bring your toothbrush with you because we’re going to send you to jail,” Bates said at the time. “That’s very, very important. If you have an illegal handgun and you are a felon and you want to carry an illegal gun, we’re going to invoke mandatory minimums. We’re going to be very, very tough on illegal handguns. People will go to jail.”
FOX45 sent several questions to DJS, including:
- If a juvenile steals a car, what should the consequences be?
- If a juvenile assaults someone while stealing a car, what should their punishment be?
- What should happen when a juvenile commits an armed robbery and assaults someone in the process?
- If a teen holds someone at gunpoint or beats them during a robbery on the street, should they face automatic jail time? Should they be detained until trial? What would accountability look like to you in this situation?
- Should DJS be removed completely from handling cases involving violent juvenile offenders?
- Do you believe Maryland’s current laws are designed to hold repeat juvenile offenders accountable?
- What role should parents or guardians play when a juvenile commits a serious crime?
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