A hearing was held on Thursday regarding Senate Bill 93, also known as the Youth Equity Act, which seeks to end the automatic charging of juveniles as adults in serious crimes such as murder.
Senator Jill Carter, the bill’s sponsor, testified at the hearing, highlighting the hypocrisy of allowing juveniles to be tried as adults but not allowing them to serve on a jury.
“The very children under our current law that can be automatically tried as an adult, tried by a jury, are not even eligible to serve on a jury because they’re under the age of 18. So right there, you’re talking about a major hypocrisy that you see in our system,” said Carter.
Senator Carter was also behind the Juvenile Justice Reform Act, which was passed last year, preventing anyone under the age of 13 from being charged with a crime unless it is serious. The proposed bill would not prevent juveniles from being tried as adults but instead would allow the court to determine whether the case is serious enough to warrant such a move.
“Even on the most serious offenses, you’re talking about taking an individual and putting them in a program for 6 to 9 months and then returning them to the streets,” said Wolfgang.
However, opponents of Senate Bill 93, such as Kurt Wolfgang, director of the Maryland Crime Victim’s Resource Center, argue that the bill would be disastrous if passed. Wolfgang believes that the proposed program of 6 to 9 months and then returning the juveniles to the streets is insufficient, even for the most serious offenses.
Despite the opposition, Senator Carter remains determined to address the issue of juvenile justice reform in Maryland. The bill will now move to the next stage of the legislative process for further discussion and voting.
“It does not in any way prohibit a person from being tried as an adult under the certain circumstances,” Carter said.
