State’s Attorney: Prince George’s County proposed 2024 bills seek to address juvenile crime
PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY, Md. (DC News Now) — Prince George’s County State’s Attorney hopes proposed 2024 Maryland legislative bills will help prosecute cases and make the county safer.
Aisha Braveboy and Baltimore City State’s Attorney Ivan J. Bates announced their support for five upcoming bills that look to tackle juvenile crime.
“Together, I truly believe that we will make a difference in our respective jurisdictions and in the state,” said State’s Attorney Braveboy.
Leaders in the DMV have made addressing youth crime a priority, legislation such as this could help to keep the conversation front of mind.
Some of the proposed bills focus on how much consequence young violators face and for how long.
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These are those five Bills:
The first bill; Juvenile Dispositions would increase the probationary period of a misdemeanor from six months to two years in cases where a young person illegally wears or carries a gun or carjacks a person. It would also increase the probationary period of those found guilty of violent felonies from two years to four years maximum.
The first bill also stands out because it says for any juvenile 15 years and nine months or older, the prosecutor’s office will be given the chance to review and or prosecute any cases involving illegal guns or car theft, with the right to seek the case be tried in adult court.
A second bill; Juvenile Competency, would make sure a juvenile found to be not criminally responsible and/or found non-competent shall be detained on their second or subsequent offense.
The bill, GPS Home Monitoring/House Arrest says In conjunction with Mayor Brandon Scott’s legislation around electronic home monitoring, any juvenile found to have violated or breached the contract or perimeter of their home monitoring agreement, the Department of Juvenile Services shall have 24-hours to notify the courts, the prosecutor’s office and defense counsel of said breach.
Parent Responsibility Act would mandate the Department of Juvenile Services institute a CINS petition when a juvenile violates home monitoring and a parent or legal guardian fails to inform the courts about their child’s violation, and possibly add truancy violations to this legislative act to ensure parents are held responsible for their child’s actions.
The final bill both state’s attorney support is Motion to Modify. That says for adult cases, eliminating the five-year cap on motions to modify to allow for the one-time modification to be filed anytime during a person’s sentence.
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