With one eye fixed on the calendar, supporters of a bill that would make it harder to charge juveniles as adults pressed a House committee to accept a clean Senate version of the bill to improve its chances of passage in the remaining days of the session.
“I would caution against changes being made, just given the tenuous nature of the coalition that we had to cobble together to get this bill over here in this form and fashion,” Sen. William C. Smith (D-Montgomery) said to the House Judiciary Committee. “I think this reform is long overdue.”
Smith, who chairs the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, was the only witness Tuesday for Senate Bill 323, which would raise the age when youth could be tried as an adult from 14 to 16 for most crimes.
The bill passed the Senate on March 6 — the first time in 14 years of trying that the measure has made it out of one chamber or another, which explains the care that supporters are taking as they try to shepherd it through the House.
Judiciary Committee Chair J. Sandy Bartlett (D-Anne Arundel) said a clean Senate bill would give the measure the best choice of passage between now and April 13, the last day of the session.
“With a history, a track record of no vote, and now we have a vote, and we have a bill that is, yes, somewhat of a compromise, but it is a way. It is movement forward,” Bartlett said after Tuesday’s meeting. “I just need to get it passed, get the policy out, get those kids out of adult detention.”
The number of youth whose cases were sent to adult court for trial rose from 618 in fiscal 2024 to 798 in fiscal 2025. Supporters of reform often cite a statistic from the Maryland Public Defender’s Office, that the state ranks second in the nation for the number of 14- to 17-year-olds automatically sent to adult court.
“I’m tired of being compared to Alabama,” said Del. N. Scott Phillips (D-Baltimore County), a member of the Judiciary Committee.
SB 323 would raise the age when a juvenile could be tried as an adult for most crimes from 14 to 16, although 14- and 15-year-olds would still head directly to adult court for charges like first-degree murder or rape, one of several compromises in the bill.
But 16-year-olds remain in juvenile court for certain crimes, such as first-degree assault and some firearms offenses. Smith’s bill includes language from another measure, sponsored by Sen. Sara Love (D-Montgomery), that prohibits youth charged as adults from being “detained or confined” in an adult prison. The only exception would be if no “secure juvenile detention area” is immediately available, in which case a youth could be held for processing in an adult jail, but for no more than six hours.
If approved, Smith said Tuesday, an estimated 500 youth per year would benefit, what Bartlett called a “significant” number.
Bartlett is the lead sponsor on a House version of the bill, which her committee heard on Feb. 12. But she said Tuesday that, with the final day of the session looming April 13, the plan will be to put her bill aside and hold a voting session this week on the Senate version.
“My bill is dead. I’m OK with that. I want one bill,” she said.
But a few Democrats pushed back slightly Tuesday.
Del. Debra Davis (D-Charles), vice chair of the committee, asked Smith if he was opposed to the committee “strengthening the bill [and] sending it back?” to Smith’s committee in the Senate.
With one eye fixed on the calendar, supporters of a bill that would make it harder to charge juveniles as adults pressed a House committee to accept a clean Senate version of the bill to improve its chances of passage in the remaining days of the session.
That’s when Smith listed several Senate bills slated to come to the House floor for debate that include housing initiatives from Gov. Wes Moore (D), voting rights, economic development and program duplication at the state’s four historically Black colleges and universities.
“That’s a lot of work for the last week and a half of session,” he said. “If this [Senate version] changes and has to come back and back, I think you’re going to greatly jeopardize the progress that this bill represents.”
Before Del. Kym Taylor (D-Prince George’s) asked Smith a similar procedural question on whether Smith’s committee would have time to review any Judiciary Committee changes, she said, “We ought to send the strongest message to our community. I would advocate for all the charges be included” in juvenile court.
Some advocates such as Alice Wilkerson, a steering committee member of the Maryland Youth Justice Coalition, said it’s important for the bill to pass to help young people now.
“We would love to see something stronger pass. We want to see an end to automatic charging in all cases. However, this is major progress,” said Wilkerson, who attended Tuesday’s bill hearing. “We firmly believe that taking this first step, as Sen. Smith said, show that this is the best policy for public safety and for young people in the state.”