Senators beat back four Republican amendments Wednesday to advance a bill that would reduce the number of crimes for which youth are automatically charged as an adult.
Senate Bill 323, which never got out of committee before last week in 14 years of trying, should get a final Senate vote this week.
“It’s certainly a historic thing,” said the bill’s sponsor, Sen. William C. Smith Jr. (D-Montgomery), after Wednesday’s floor session. “I think it’s going to be a really important moment for us.”
The bill seeks to raise the age when a juvenile could be tried as an adult, from the current 14 to 16. Certain crimes such as first-degree assault and some firearms offenses for 16-year-olds would be eligible to head straight to juvenile court versus adult court.
However, 14- and 15-year-olds charged with first-degree murder or rape would still head directly to adult court.
This version of the bill also includes language from another bill that would prohibit youth who are charged as adults from being “detained or confined” in an adult prison.
Republicans offered amendments Wednesday they said would make the bill stronger and increase “accountability” for a youth’s behavior, especially repeat behavior.
Sen. William G. Folden (R-Frederick), the only member of the Judicial Proceedings Committee to vote against the bill last week in committee, offered two amendments. One sought to have juveniles charged with first-degree assault go back automatically to adult court.
“I think it’s important to understand that first-degree assault is just short of homicide, attempted murder,” Folden said Wednesday. “Anybody that’s carrying a gun, anybody that’s in an assault that is to the level of a first-degree assault that hospitalizes and creates a serious bodily injury or threat of death … should be heard directly in front of a judge.”
Smith said Maryland “is an outlier” when it comes to sending cases involving youth straight to juvenile court.
As of January, Maryland was one of three states where a certain offense committed by teens as young as 14 are automatically sent to adult court, according to the Interstate Commission for Juveniles . The Kentucky-based commission oversees an interstate compact that assesses youth “under court supervision.” There’s no minimum age in West Virginia and children as young as 10 in Kansas charged with a certain offense could be sent to adult court. No age was listed for Arizona and South Carolina.
The Senate rejected Folden’s amendment 27-14. Sen. Chirs West (R-Baltimore and Carroll), a co-sponsor of the legislation, was the only Republican to vote against it. Two Democrats – Sens. Carl Jackson (D-Baltimore County) and Ron Watson (D-Prince George’s) – voted with the 12 Republicans in support of it.
The remaining amendments in an attempt to put in other provisions were rejected by the Senate. Jackson was the only Democrat to vote in favor of all the amendments presented.
The bill includes some compromises, such as allowing a judge to decide more quickly where a case belongs, and allowing a state’s attorney general to argue that a juvenile case should revert back to adult court. In addition, an intake officer with the state Department of Juvenile Services would have to “authorize detention” of a suspect age 16 or older accused of violating certain firearm offenses in this statute, or committing “a crime of violence” listed in this statute.
“Those are good parts” of the bill, Folden said after the Senate adjourned. But he said more proactive actions should be taken by state officials to help young people.
“The things that I would like to see [are] social services and juvenile services partnering to spearhead a proactive measure, instead of only waiting until they [youth] have a negative encounter with law enforcement to then enter them into a system,” he said.
A companion House bill had a hearing last month in the House Judiciary Committee. But Del. J. Sandy Bartlett (D-Anne Arundel), sponsor of the House bill and chair of Judiciary, said she is waiting to see what the Senate passes before acting on her bill.
“Of course, I would like for us to move the bill here in the House,” Bartlett said Tuesday. “I also know that two different chambers sometimes see things differently. I am watching the Senate very closely. I want to see what they end up passing on.”