Maryland governor signs bill limiting automatic adult charges for some youth crimes

Added: 2026-05-28

[00:00:00]Another big story tonight, juvenile justice reform. Maryland will stop automatically charging youth as adults for many gun offenses and first-degree assaults. Welcome to the news at 5:00.

[00:00:11]I'm Nikki Zizaza.

[00:00:12]>> And I'm Rick Ritter. Governor Wes Moore signed the Youth Charging Reform Act into law this morning with supporters praising this as it gives young offenders now a second chance, while opponents, including many of the prosecutors, say this gives juveniles a free pass. WJZ investigator Mike Hellgren is live in Anne Arundel County with the fallout. Mike.

[00:00:32]Nikki, Rick, this will drastically impact state's attorneys' offices.

[00:00:36]They're going to have to add more workers to handle these juvenile cases, as many as 16 more in Baltimore City, as many as four more here in Anne Arundel County. But reform advocates say Maryland needs to do the right thing, and this is a step toward that, that too many juveniles are being sent to adult prisons, and they say that this will put the state in line with what other states are doing.

[00:00:59]Nobody knows if the gun was fake or real. Juvenile crime has alarmed many across Maryland. This is video WJZ obtained earlier this month of a convenience store robbery in Baltimore with suspects as young as 14. But advocates for charging reform say the state treats young offenders too harshly and have been fighting for more than a decade to stop automatic adult charges for certain crimes, including many handgun offenses and serious assaults.

[00:01:25]They finally won a victory with the governor signing the Youth Charging Reform Act.

[00:01:29]>> Here in Maryland, we charge more children as adults than in every other state other than Alabama.

[00:01:35]This bill will change that. It keeps cases in the right court from the start, which actually, and by the data, makes us safer. Numbers WJZ investigates obtained reveal last year 303 youth were charged as adults for gun crimes, 204 with first-degree assault. Only 58 of those weapons charges stayed in adult court, along with only 38 of the first-degree assault charges. You need to give people an opportunity. You need to give them second chances.

[00:02:04]>> Automatic charging is now not a thing for the following offenses: possession, sale, or transfer regulated firearms, um use of a firearm during a drug crime, use of a firearm with a felony drug conviction, first-degree assault, wearing, carrying, or transporting a handgun. The law also keeps juveniles out of adult prisons with rare exceptions, but many prosecutors, including Baltimore City State's Attorney Ivan Bates, say the charging reform is misguided. Bates tells WJZ sending these violent offenders back to the juvenile system and giving them a time out is not the answer to such egregiously violent crimes. We should leave the laws the way they are.

[00:02:39]>> Baltimore County State's Attorney Scott Shellenberger denounced the reforms last week at the WJZ banner debate.

[00:02:45]>> Give them the help they need when they commit low-level crimes, but treat them as adults when they commit adult crimes.

[00:02:52]The larger Maryland community could pay a price. Howard County State's Attorney Rich Gibson cited the case of 19-year-old Emmitt McZeya who killed a 15- and a 16-year-old outside the mall in Columbia and was given multiple second chances. The majority occurring within the juvenile justice system.

[00:03:08]And yet none of those interventions altered the trajectory he was on, nor did they adequately recognize the escalating warning signs that ultimately led us to where we are today.

[00:03:20]Now, the state public defender called these reforms long overdue. She did note there are still 26 offenses which will land juveniles automatically still in adult court, including rape and murder.

[00:03:33]Reporting live in your corner in Glen Burnie, Mike Hellgren, WJZ.

[00:03:38]A lot to play out still, Mike. Thank you. A