Based on data from Baltimore County Police, more than 200 juveniles were arrested last month.
Police said there were 232 unique juvenile arrests in November, which includes juveniles charged or arrested. In October, that number was slightly higher, with 237 arrests.
Across Maryland, new juvenile justice laws went into effect at the beginning of November. Kids between the ages of 10 and 12 years old can be charged with handgun violations, third-degree sex offenses and aggravated animal abuse. The new law also extends probation length for juvenile offenders.
However, according to Scott Shellenberger, the Baltimore County State’s Attorney, the impacts of the laws have yet to be seen in the county.
“We really haven’t seen much difference in our office at the moment, because the review process takes almost 30 days,” Shellenberger said. “So by the time police have done their investigation, they are required to turn things over to juvenile services, juvenile services has a period of time to review the case.”
Based on the laws, the review process has been shortened, however Shellenberger said the review process, which starts when police finish their investigation, can still take time. The new laws have only been in effect for roughly four weeks, and many cases are still working their way through the review process.
“All of that is just getting started,” Shellenberger said. “I think we are going to start seeing some action and changes beginning within the next few weeks in December.”
“What I believe we will see, is we will be receiving more cases in our juvenile system and be able to bring more cases to court to make it a more formal process,” he added.
Across the county line, in Baltimore, Baltimore Police said since the new juvenile justice laws took effect Nov. 1, they have made about 70 juvenile arrests related to stolen cars, robberies, burglaries, assaults, and carjackings, among other crimes. The data provided includes the cases brought to Juvenile Booking for review of secure detention but does not include paper referrals.
Follow-up questions were sent to Baltimore Police Wednesday to get a better idea of how many paper referrals were made in the month of November, and to ask if city police have had any issues apprehending juveniles, to get a better idea of how the numbers compare to Baltimore County. As of Wednesday evening, a response from Baltimore Police has not been received.
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