In testimony before the House Judiciary Committee concerning the cross-filed House Bill, a retired circuit court judge noted that the federal Constitution requires that juvenile offenders have “a meaningful opportunity to obtain release based on demonstrated maturity...
In my last piece written just before the start of the 2022 session, I urged the Maryland legislature to consider and adopt five major changes to the current juvenile delinquency law. Happily, the General Assembly enacted reform measures with respect to four of the...
Judge George B. Rasin, Jr. served as the sole circuit judge in Kent County, Maryland, from 1960 until 1987. In criminal cases, he was known as a “hanging judge” and when he came to Baltimore City to sit specially during the summers in the 1960’s, 70’s, and 80’s (there...
In my most recent blog, I examined how judges decide whether to have serious cases involving 15-, 16-, and 17-year-olds handled in juvenile court or as adult criminal cases. For a variety of reasons—including the fact that, although the juvenile court has...
Last time, we saw how juvenile delinquency cases are heard in Montgomery County, with a look back at the unique history here. Today, I examine how these judges have extraordinary discretion to essentially make or break the lives of juveniles in the county. Before...
When I was assigned to the juvenile rotation in 2013, a fellow judge in Baltimore City told me that this would be the most important work I would do as a judge. I believed her then and I found it to be true. Juveniles can be put on a better path so they do not...
The year is 1966 and the place is Woodlawn High School in Baltimore County, Maryland. The student body is 95% or more White, as is the faculty and administrative staff. There are no school resource officers or police presence of any kind in the school. I am in a...
In Maryland, all things “delinquency” flow through the Department of Juvenile Services. If you are a parent seeking a peace order in a juvenile case, you would go there. If you are a police officer who has arrested a juvenile, you know to go there. If you are an...
In Maryland, any child under the age of 18 who does something that would be a crime if committed by an adult has thereby committed a “delinquent act” and is subject to the jurisdiction of the Juvenile Court. Some children, as you might expect, commit serious...
The Maryland Constitution is quite clear on this subject: all state court judges must retire at age 70. This has been in the organic state law for over a century and a half. There have been attempts in the past to raise the so-called age of “constitutional...