Maryland announces juvenile justice reforms and launch of commission

BALTIMORE (AP) — Maryland’s Department of Juvenile Services announced reforms to its detention policies Tuesday, as well as the launch of a new commission on best practices.

Under the new policies, youths who are referred to the department after being accused of a violent felony and who are not detained will be placed on electronic monitoring before their initial court appearance.

Youths who are already on electronic monitoring and are charged with a violent felony will be detained, the department said in a news release.

The department also announced two new programs.

One of them, called Community Assistance for the Release Eligible, will work with system-involved youths who are neither detained nor placed on community detention to support them and their families and provide service referrals.

The second, called the Detention Diversion Advocacy Program, will support youths who are placed by the courts in the community while their cases are pending with supervision support.

The 26-member Commission on Juvenile Justice Reform and Emerging Best Practices is a statewide panel that will review juvenile services, facilities and programs. It’s part of a juvenile justice reform law approved by lawmakers this year.

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