Maryland Should Do Better by Children Accused of Crimes

Updated March 12, 2025

Elizabeth Calvin

Human Rights Watch

Under existing law, Maryland automatically prosecutes children in the adult system for a long list of crimes—with zero assessment before filing about whether they could be rehabilitated in the juvenile system. This means Maryland is missing a critical opportunity to promote rehabilitation, reduce recidivism, and set young people on a better path.

Real public safety means prioritizing rehabilitation to prevent future crimes. Well-documented research shows that youth prosecuted in the juvenile system are less likely to commit new crimes than those sent to adult court. Prosecuting children as adults doesn’t make communities safer—it does the opposite.

When it comes to prosecuting children as if they were adults, Maryland is second only to Alabama in the per capita number of cases it files automatically in adult criminal court. This is an important metric because a decision to send a child to the adult system has wide-ranging ramifications, both for children and the state as a whole. The thing about Maryland law, though, is that for most cases, no one is making the decision. It’s automatic. The system is on autopilot, with no one at the helm.

The Maryland General Assembly has a chance to take the wheel by passing Senate Bill 422, an important bill that has the potential to protect both young people and community safety.

Senate Bill 422 would change that process by limiting automatic filing to cases against 16- and 17-year-olds accused of the most serious crimes as adults. Other cases would start in juvenile court but allow the prosecutor to file a motion to move their case to the adult system. A judge would then conduct a hearing, listen to evidence about the young person and the crime, and evaluate the likelihood of them getting on the right path. It would be a deliberate and informed judgment rather than an automatic procedure.

There are other reasons to pass SB 422, including to save money: the state estimates it will save more than $19 million a year. Youth of color will experience the greatest impact by enactment of SB 422, due to their large overrepresentation among youth charged as adults.

Perhaps the most important reason is the children themselves. Children who enter the criminal justice system in Maryland have experienced trauma, abuse, and neglect at staggering rates; a fact outlined in a recent report by Human Rights for Kids.

The nonprofit surveyed children prosecuted as adults in Maryland: Nearly 74 percent of respondents reported experiencing physical abuse as children, and around 40 percent had been sexually abused. Before the crime that resulted in adult prosecution, 70 percent had experienced at least six of the 10 key “Adverse Childhood Experiences” defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The good news is that intervention can break the cycle and help young people heal.

But Maryland’s current system undermines that possibility at every turn. Although a whopping 85 percent of cases of children initially filed in adult court get sent back to juvenile court or are dismissed altogether, time is lost as they wait for a judge to determine the right venue. While they wait, they sit in detention for an average of 114 days with no services, treatment, or accountability. Contrary to federal law, some are held in adult jails. Some are put in solitary confinement, a practice recognized as potentially harmful to adolescents, in some cases causing substa­­ntial psychological damage.

Meanwhile, for children who start in the juvenile system, the Maryland Department of Juveniles Services quickly conducts an assessment and develops a treatment plan tailored to address the youth’s needs and reduce the likelihood of recidivism. It’s a jumpstart to addressing childhood trauma. Under SB 422, treatment can begin quickly.

Victims of violent crime echo these priorities: a 2024 national report found that seven out of 10 survivors surveyed prefer sentencing policies that allow for individualized consideration of the crime, victim, and defendant; rather than rigid, uniform laws, like Maryland’s current automatic transfer law. Two-thirds of respondents think that the best ways to keep people from committing repeat crimes are mental health services, addiction treatment, and job training.

We believe every child deserves the opportunity to grow and thrive, and SB 422 would make that possible for more of Maryland’s kids.

Maryland leaders should take the helm, prioritize children and communities, and pass SB 422.