UPPER MARLBORO, Md. — Recently the state of Maryland passed a slate of measures aimed at bringing down juvenile crime. For months we’ve talked about the rise in juvenile crime in the DMV. DC, Maryland, and Virginia are all taking measures to curb it.
Prince George’s County dealt with several high-profile cases that highlighted the problem, like the attempted murder conviction of teen Kaden Holland, also known as Baby K.
In March, Baby K had a decisive hearing. A judge determined Baby K would face adult court for storming a bus in 2023 and trying to murder a student.
Key in that decision was evidence presented by prosecutors, that juvenile services had given Baby K probation for a gun charge three years ago.
State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy said a month after juvenile services closed the case, the attempted murder on the bus happened. To her, this pointed to a bigger problem in the juvenile system.
“What we were seeing over the past few years, unfortunately, was a lack of accountability and a lack of enforcement,” she said.
Beyond Baby K’s case, Maryland’s Juvenile Services reported that from 2022 to 2023, Maryland saw a 220% rise in youth gun crimes.
“We want our kids to know there are consequences,” Braveyboy said.
Among the issues, it creates a commission to oversee juvenile services, Prosecutors will get cases faster from juvenile services, and (in cases like Baby K) there will be accountability for probation.
“State’s Attorneys will have the ability to ask the courts to extend terms of probation and to enforce their court orders.”
But it stood to be asked- did she get everything she and her fellow prosecutors asked Annapolis for?
“Did it go as far as we wanted to go? Probably not,” she said, optimistically. “But I think it’s a good compromise.”
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