Maryland Had Smaller Drop in Youth Crime During the 1990's than D.C. Despite D.C.'s Decreased Use of Detention

New Report Finds that Increased Detention Did Not Increase Public Safety, Encourages Maryland to Adopt More Balanced Approach

Maryland - A new study finds that the District of Columbia had a much sharper drop in violent youth crime rates than the state of Maryland in the 1990's, even though Maryland's use of pretrial juvenile detention increased and the District's use of detention dropped substantially.

The comparison of the District and Maryland suggests that cities and states can reduce locked detention without jeopardizing public safety. During the 1990's, the District sharply reduced its juvenile detention rate by 71 percent, while Maryland's detention rate rose 3 percent. During that same time, D.C.'s violent juvenile crime rate declined by 55 percent, more than three times Maryland's 15 percent decline in violent juvenile crime.

The comparative study "A Tale of Two Jurisdictions: Youth Crime and Detention Rates in Maryland and the District of Columbia" was commissioned by the Building Blocks for Youth initiative, a national effort to promote a fair and effective youth justice system, and conducted by the DC-based Justice Policy Institute. The study also notes that, while African Americans make up 32 percent of Maryland's youth population, African Americans are 64 percent of detained youth and 72 percent of youth who are committed to state facilities after adjudication.

"The District's impressive record in reducing detention beds while youth crime rates dropped offers an important lesson to the state of Maryland," said Mark Soler, President of the Youth Law Center and head of the Building Blocks for Youth initiative. "Rather than confining minority youth in large, jail-like facilities, Maryland should learn from D.C.'s success by developing more community-based programs and small, home-like secure facilities."

While Maryland has moved to close the notoriously overcrowded and decrepit Cheltenham facility, the state is preparing to open a 144-bed detention facility in Baltimore City, as well as 24-bed facilities in both eastern and western Maryland. The report noted that, in standards promulgated by the American Bar Association, it was recommended that detention facilities should be no larger than 12 to 20 beds in size.

In addition to smaller facilities, the study also recommended that the District and the state of Maryland expand the use of community-based programs and conduct a thorough analysis of the overrepresentation of minority youth in their locked facilities.

The report notes that Maryland was able to close the Montrose Training School in the late 1980's and place youth formerly confined there into community-based programs. According to research conducted by the Center for the Study of Youth Policy, only 15 percent of those youth were recommitted to state facilities following the closure of Montrose. Despite the successful closure of Montrose, Maryland's detention rate increased over the following decade. In addition to the announced closure of the Cheltenham facility, the Department of Juvenile Justice Secretary recently announced that he is considering closing the Victor Cullen Academy, a troubled, large institution located in Frederick County, Maryland.

"This study provides strong evidence to support a more balanced approach to juvenile justice, including small secure facilities, a range of community-based programs for troubled youth, and a reduction in Maryland's disproportionate confinement of minority youth," said report co-author and Justice Policy Institute President Vincent Schiraldi. "As Maryland moves towards the closure of some of its large youth institutions, it should be buoyed by the fact that, if D.C. can reduce its use of detention and still have sharp declines in youth crime, so can Maryland."

An embargoed copy of "A Tale of Two Jurisdictions: Youth Crime and Detention Rates in Maryland and the District of Columbia" can be viewed at a private web location at: www.buildingblocksforyouth.org/dcmd, with the username: detention and password: maryland99. The full report will be available to the public on October 23 at www.buildingblocksforyouth.org. For more information on the report, contact Laura Jones or Jason Ziedenberg at (202) 737-7270.

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