{"id":11579147,"date":"2025-07-28T05:00:33","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T09:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/?p=11579147"},"modified":"2025-07-28T08:35:51","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T12:35:51","slug":"youth-assaults-against-maryland-juvenile-services-staff-rise-71","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/2025\/07\/28\/youth-assaults-against-maryland-juvenile-services-staff-rise-71\/","title":{"rendered":"Youth assaults against Maryland juvenile services staff rise 71%"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Youth assaults against employees at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/2025\/06\/14\/maryland-juvenile-crime-residents-speak-out\/\">Department of Juvenile Services<\/a> (DJS) rose 71% between 2021 and 2024, with more than 700 incidents reported over the past five years.<\/p>\n<p>The agency reported 107 youth-on-staff assaults for all of 2021, and 112 in in 2022. In 2023, that number rose to 142. Last year, DJS reported 183 incidents of youth-on-staff assault \u2014 a 29% increase from 2023.<\/p>\n<p>The union that represents DJS employees points to a lack of adequate resources and understaffed facilities as the cause.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur members are frustrated. Our members are exhausted. Our members are concerned about their well-being \u2014 about their family&#8217;s well-being \u2014 in addition to the youths\u2019 well-being,\u201d Patrick Moran, the president of the Maryland chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) said in an interview Friday with The Baltimore Sun.<\/p>\n<p>DJS leaders point to a number of factors.<\/p>\n<p>Former DJS Secretary Vincent Schiraldi said during a Friday interview with The Baltimore Sun that it could be linked to new staff getting acquainted with their positions, as well as children who are frustrated with the court system during extended stays.<\/p>\n<p>Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, appointed Betsy Fox Tolentino, a veteran of the agency, to succeed Schiraldi. She is likely to be confirmed to the position when the legislature reconvenes in 2026 and is now leading in an interim capacity. DJS did not respond to a request for comment by deadline Friday.<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Data obtained from DJS by The Baltimore Sun found that, between June 3, 2020, and June 30, 2025, there were 712 assaults perpetrated by youth held at DJS facilities against staff members.<\/p>\n<p>From Jan. 1 to June 30, 2025, the agency has recorded\u00a0100 assaults against its staff, demonstrating a 28% increase from the same time period in 2024 and a 72% rise from 2021.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Assaults against staff at DJS facilities\" aria-label=\"Stacked Bars\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-H0dWZ\" src=\"https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/H0dWZ\/3\/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;\" height=\"271\" data-external=\"1\"><\/iframe><script type=\"text\/javascript\">!function(){\"use strict\";window.addEventListener(\"message\",function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[\"datawrapper-height\"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(\"iframe\");for(var t in a.data[\"datawrapper-height\"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data[\"datawrapper-height\"][t]+\"px\";r.style.height=d}}})}();<\/script><\/p>\n<h4>Collateral damage<\/h4>\n<p>DJS has a staff injury severity scale from level zero to level three.<\/p>\n<p>According to Michael Sharp, a spokesman for DJS, level zero assaults signify that staff members sustained no visible injury or reports of pain. Level one assaults indicate that staff require on-site medical care. Level two ratings require off-site medical care, and level three, deemed the \u201cmost serious,\u201d requires overnight admission to a medical facility.<\/p>\n<p>More than half of the assaults reported between June 2020 and 2025 \u2014 498\u00a0\u2014 were recorded as level zero. Only four incidents required overnight admission.<\/p>\n<p>The agency reported that there were 33 instances of youth-on-staff assault where the injury severity level was not recorded.<\/p>\n<p>The data obtained by The Baltimore Sun did not account for youth-on-youth assaults within the agency&#8217;s facilities. Moran said that, when children held in DJS facilities fight each other, staff often become collateral damage.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey&#8217;re told to break up a fight between the youth, but that often gets turned into a youth then attacking the staff, and they have no way of defending themselves if they are assaulted by a group of kids in the facilities,\u201d he said. \u201cThey have no recourse, nothing. And, you know, that&#8217;s dangerous for them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Assaults against staff by DJS facility and severity, June 2020 through June 2025\" aria-label=\"Stacked Bars\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-n4qmW\" src=\"https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/n4qmW\/2\/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;\" height=\"572\" data-external=\"1\"><\/iframe><script type=\"text\/javascript\">!function(){\"use strict\";window.addEventListener(\"message\",function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[\"datawrapper-height\"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(\"iframe\");for(var t in a.data[\"datawrapper-height\"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data[\"datawrapper-height\"][t]+\"px\";r.style.height=d}}})}();<\/script><\/p>\n<h4>&#8216;They act out&#8217;<\/h4>\n<p>Youth can be held under the care of DJS until they are 21 years old.<\/p>\n<p>The data provided to The Sun from DJS demonstrated that some children as young as 11 and young people as old as 20 were culpable for assaulting staff.<\/p>\n<p>The most prevalent age group to perpetrate assaults was among 17-year-olds, which accounted for 31% of the 712 documented instances. There was a rapid decline in assaults against staff among 18-year-olds, which showed a 48% decrease in attacks in comparison.<\/p>\n<p>There were just 10 instances of youth-on-staff assaults among those who were 19 at the time of the incident. The agency reported only one incident of a 20-year-old assaulting a staff member.<\/p>\n<p>The embattled agency has changed hands several times over the past few years.<\/p>\n<p>Former Secretary Sam Abed passed the agency on to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/2025\/06\/26\/schiraldi-why-i-left-department-of-juvenile-services-guest-commentary\/\">Schiraldi<\/a> in 2023 after\u00a0Moore was inaugurated. Schiraldi, who was often under fire on behalf of Republicans and frustrated members of the public, resigned from the role in June.<\/p>\n<p>Schiraldi noted that 2020 through 2025 encompassed the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought \u201creal staffing challenges\u201d across the country, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWorking in either a juvenile or an adult facility is really challenging work, and so this is a national phenomenon that people are having a hard time staffing up,\u201d said Schiraldi. \u201cOnce you do solve that problem, then you have new staff that adds all of those problems\u201d with training and getting acquainted with the job.<\/p>\n<p>An <a href=\"https:\/\/mgaleg.maryland.gov\/pubs\/budgetfiscal\/2026fy-budget-docs-operating-V00A-Department-of-Juvenile-Services.pdf\">analysis<\/a> for fiscal year 2026 from the nonpartisan Department of Legislative Services reported that DJS had an 11.1% vacancy rate for direct-care staff at the close of 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Schiraldi also pointed to the longer stays that children facing charges as adults must undergo, which he said leaves them frustrated and demoralized.<\/p>\n<p>According to the most recent DJS Data Resource Guide, the average length of stay for youth charged as adults in fiscal year 2024 was 123 days.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen a kid is in limbo like that for months and months, they act out,\u201d Schiraldi said.<\/p>\n<h4>&#8216;Penny-wise and pound-foolish&#8217;<\/h4>\n<p>Moran said that the issues seen within the agency are not the fault of a single secretary or governor, noting that both Moore and former Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, said they wanted to help Maryland youth, who often face adverse circumstances, without providing the agency with proper resources.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe facilities they have are inadequate or sometimes outdated. That&#8217;s capital investment,\u201d said Moran. \u201cThe sad part about this is [if] they do invest in these kids early on properly \u2026 it\u2019s just so clear that they are not going to have to invest in them later on in life when they become adults and they have a better chance of getting these kids on a more productive path.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s penny-wise and pound-foolish,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<h4>By the numbers<\/h4>\n<p>DJS operates 11 facilities.<\/p>\n<p>The facility with the highest instances of youth-on-staff assaults is Cheltenham Youth Detention Center, a facility for boys and girls in Prince George\u2019s County, which reported 138 incidents.<\/p>\n<p>According to the Cheltenham Data Resource Guide, the facility has a capacity for 72 children.<\/p>\n<p>Green Ridge Youth Center, a boys-only facility in Allegany County, recorded the second-highest number of assaults at 121. With a youth capacity of just 21, this facility is significantly smaller.<\/p>\n<p>According to the DJS website, two facilities, Alfred D. Noyes Children\u2019s Center and Garrett Children\u2019s Center, are temporarily closed. Both saw the lowest recorded number of youth-on-staff assaults at 42 and 8, respectively.<\/p>\n<p>The fiscal analysis from the Department of Legislative Services stated residential facilities run by DJS \u201cdo not provide adequate capacity to accommodate the number of youths requiring out-of-home placements \u2026 nor do they provide the full complement of programming required to address the variety of treatment needs for the committed population.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Moran agrees that a lack of resources has exacerbated the problem.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou know that&#8217;s the bottom line here,\u201d he said. \u201cBad things happen when you don&#8217;t have adequate staff, and bad things happen when you don&#8217;t have the proper programs that they are supposed to be running through because you don&#8217;t have the staff to do them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Have a news tip? Contact Hannah Gaskill at hgaskill@baltsun.com.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cOur members are frustrated. Our members are exhausted. Our members are concerned about their well-being \u2014 about their family&#8217;s well-being \u2014 in addition to the youths\u2019 well-being,\u201d said the head of the union representing DJS workers. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":11510079,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-07-28T09:02:05Z","apple_news_api_id":"fcc49794-f965-4142-8bc9-8573be4f445e","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-07-28T09:02:05Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A_MSXlPllQUKLyYVzvk9EXg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"middle","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"subheadline":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[83,84,85,93],"tags":[26130,24457],"feature":[],"location":[223],"type-of-work":[],"coauthors":[440],"class_list":["post-11579147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-headlines","category-local-news","category-news","category-politics","tag-maryland-politics","tag-social","location-maryland"],"post_status":"","edit_last":0,"edit_lock":0,"highlights":"","original_byline":"","original_canonical":"","original_category":"","original_email":"","original_id":0,"original_pubdate":"","original_source":"","primary_section":"93","primary_tag":0,"print_workflow_body":{"deck_headline":"","print_title":"Youth assaults against Maryland juvenile services staff rise 71%","print_subheadline":"","print_priority":"","print_placement":"cover","print_planned_ready":"","print_pub_date":1753660800,"print_slug":"TBS-L-DJSASSAULTS-0725","print_content":"<p>Youth assaults against employees at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/2025\/06\/14\/maryland-juvenile-crime-residents-speak-out\/\">Department of Juvenile Services<\/a> (DJS) rose 71% between 2021 and 2024, with more than 700 incidents reported over the past five years.<\/p>\n<p>The agency reported 107 youth-on-staff assaults for all of 2021, and 112 in in 2022. In 2023, that number rose to 142. Last year, DJS reported 183 incidents of youth-on-staff assault \u2014 a 29% increase from 2023.<\/p>\n<p>The union that represents DJS employees points to a lack of adequate resources and understaffed facilities as the cause.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur members are frustrated. Our members are exhausted. Our members are concerned about their well-being \u2014 about their family's well-being \u2014 in addition to the youths\u2019 well-being,\u201d Patrick Moran, the president of the Maryland chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) said in an interview Friday with The Baltimore Sun.<\/p>\n<p>DJS leaders point to a number of factors.<\/p>\n<p>Former DJS Secretary Vincent Schiraldi said during a Friday interview with The Baltimore Sun that it could be linked to new staff getting acquainted with their positions, as well as children who are frustrated with the court system during extended stays.<\/p>\n<p>Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, appointed Betsy Fox Tolentino, a veteran of the agency, to succeed Schiraldi. She is likely to be confirmed to the position when the legislature reconvenes in 2026 and is now leading in an interim capacity. DJS did not respond to a request for comment by deadline Friday.<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Data obtained from DJS by The Baltimore Sun found that, between June 3, 2020, and June 30, 2025, there were 712 assaults perpetrated by youth held at DJS facilities against staff members.<\/p>\n<p>From Jan. 1 to June 30, 2025, the agency has recorded\u00a0100 assaults against its staff, demonstrating a 28% increase from the same time period in 2024 and a 72% rise from 2021.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/H0dWZ\/3\/<\/p>\n<h4>Collateral damage<\/h4>\n<p>DJS has a staff injury severity scale from level zero to level three.<\/p>\n<p>According to Michael Sharp, a spokesman for DJS, level zero assaults signify that staff members sustained no visible injury or reports of pain. Level one assaults indicate that staff require on-site medical care. Level two ratings require off-site medical care, and level three, deemed the \u201cmost serious,\u201d requires overnight admission to a medical facility.<\/p>\n<p>More than half of the assaults reported between June 2020 and 2025 \u2014 498\u00a0\u2014 were recorded as level zero. Only four incidents required overnight admission.<\/p>\n<p>The agency reported that there were 33 instances of youth-on-staff assault where the injury severity level was not recorded.<\/p>\n<p>The data obtained by The Baltimore Sun did not account for youth-on-youth assaults within the agency's facilities. Moran said that, when children held in DJS facilities fight each other, staff often become collateral damage.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey're told to break up a fight between the youth, but that often gets turned into a youth then attacking the staff, and they have no way of defending themselves if they are assaulted by a group of kids in the facilities,\u201d he said. \u201cThey have no recourse, nothing. And, you know, that's dangerous for them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/n4qmW\/1\/<\/p>\n<h4>'They act out'<\/h4>\n<p>Youth can be held under the care of DJS until they are 21 years old.<\/p>\n<p>The data provided to The Sun from DJS demonstrated that some children as young as 11 and young people as old as 20 were culpable for assaulting staff.<\/p>\n<p>The most prevalent age group to perpetrate assaults was among 17-year-olds, which accounted for 31% of the 712 documented instances. There was a rapid decline in assaults against staff among 18-year-olds, which showed a 48% decrease in attacks in comparison.<\/p>\n<p>There were just 10 instances of youth-on-staff assaults among those who were 19 at the time of the incident. The agency reported only one incident of a 20-year-old assaulting a staff member.<\/p>\n<p>The embattled agency has changed hands several times over the past few years.<\/p>\n<p>Former Secretary Sam Abed passed the agency on to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/2025\/06\/26\/schiraldi-why-i-left-department-of-juvenile-services-guest-commentary\/\">Schiraldi<\/a> in 2023 after\u00a0Moore was inaugurated. Schiraldi, who was often under fire on behalf of Republicans and frustrated members of the public, resigned from the role in June.<\/p>\n<p>Schiraldi noted that 2020 through 2025 encompassed the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought \u201creal staffing challenges\u201d across the country, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWorking in either a juvenile or an adult facility is really challenging work, and so this is a national phenomenon that people are having a hard time staffing up,\u201d said Schiraldi. \u201cOnce you do solve that problem, then you have new staff that adds all of those problems\u201d with training and getting acquainted with the job.<\/p>\n<p>An <a href=\"https:\/\/mgaleg.maryland.gov\/pubs\/budgetfiscal\/2026fy-budget-docs-operating-V00A-Department-of-Juvenile-Services.pdf\">analysis<\/a> for fiscal year 2026 from the nonpartisan Department of Legislative Services reported that DJS had an 11.1% vacancy rate for direct-care staff at the close of 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Schiraldi also pointed to the longer stays that children facing charges as adults must undergo, which he said leaves them frustrated and demoralized.<\/p>\n<p>According to the most recent DJS Data Resource Guide, the average length of stay for youth charged as adults in fiscal year 2024 was 123 days.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen a kid is in limbo like that for months and months, they act out,\u201d Schiraldi said.<\/p>\n<h4>'Penny-wise and pound-foolish'<\/h4>\n<p>Moran said that the issues seen within the agency are not the fault of a single secretary or governor, noting that both Moore and former Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, said they wanted to help Maryland youth, who often face adverse circumstances, without providing the agency with proper resources.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe facilities they have are inadequate or sometimes outdated. That's capital investment,\u201d said Moran. \u201cThe sad part about this is [if] they do invest in these kids early on properly \u2026 it\u2019s just so clear that they are not going to have to invest in them later on in life when they become adults and they have a better chance of getting these kids on a more productive path.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s penny-wise and pound-foolish,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<h4>By the numbers<\/h4>\n<p>DJS operates 11 facilities.<\/p>\n<p>The facility with the highest instances of youth-on-staff assaults is Cheltenham Youth Detention Center, a facility for boys and girls in Prince George\u2019s County, which reported 138 incidents.<\/p>\n<p>According to the Cheltenham Data Resource Guide, the facility has a capacity for 72 children.<\/p>\n<p>Green Ridge Youth Center, a boys-only facility in Allegany County, recorded the second-highest number of assaults at 121. With a youth capacity of just 21, this facility is significantly smaller.<\/p>\n<p>According to the DJS website, two facilities, Alfred D. Noyes Children\u2019s Center and Garrett Children\u2019s Center, are temporarily closed. Both saw the lowest recorded number of youth-on-staff assaults at 42 and 8, respectively.<\/p>\n<p>The fiscal analysis from the Department of Legislative Services stated residential facilities run by DJS \u201cdo not provide adequate capacity to accommodate the number of youths requiring out-of-home placements \u2026 nor do they provide the full complement of programming required to address the variety of treatment needs for the committed population.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Moran agrees that a lack of resources has exacerbated the problem.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou know that's the bottom line here,\u201d he said. \u201cBad things happen when you don't have adequate staff, and bad things happen when you don't have the proper programs that they are supposed to be running through because you don't have the staff to do them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Have a news tip? Contact Hannah Gaskill at hgaskill@baltsun.com.<\/em><\/p>\n","print_budget_line":"","print_excerpt":"\u201cOur members are frustrated. Our members are exhausted. Our members are concerned about their well-being \u2014 about their family's well-being \u2014 in addition to the youths\u2019 well-being,\u201d said the head of the union representing DJS workers.","print_notes":"","photo_limits":"Photo limits are: 1 featured image, 5 featured gallery images, 5 embedded gallery images and 5 in-article embedded images. Articles that exceed these limits will not export. 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