3 Maryland juveniles are charged with hate crimes. How did it get to that point?

When Robert Harvey read the report from Maryland State Police last month alleging that a middle school student had been repeatedly targeted with anti-Semitic harassment by her classmates, the Calvert County, Md., state's attorney was deeply disturbed.

"I saw this report of this incident and immediately asked that there be further investigation and ultimately determined, after looking at the law, that we believe that charges for hate crimes were appropriate," Harvey told NPR.

Because the case involves minors, the charges are sealed and NPR was unable to reach the defendants. Reached through Harvey, the complainant and her family declined to speak with a reporter. But Harvey has shared some of the allegations publicly. After his office filed charges, it put out a press release.

"They were harassing [the victim] over several months, drawing swastikas on notepaper and showing them to her," he said. "They were holding their finger under their nose like a Hitler mustache and making derogatory comments about her physical appearance."

Harvey said that his office found no indication that allegations of what occurred at Plum Point Middle School included acts or threats of violence. Still, it filed misdemeanor hate crimes charges against three 13-year-olds and petitioned the state's Department of Juvenile Justice for supervision of three 12-year-olds. The cases of those facing criminal charges will also go to that department, where an intake officer may opt to drop the charges if the youths fulfill an alternative course of remedy, such as community service, apologies or remedial instruction.

"I wanted to be sure that whatever happens, I'm aware of it," Harvey said. "And I want to be sure that whatever happens to these young men,