State bill limiting offenses that charge youth as adults gains momentum

House of Delegates expected to debate legislation after panel accepts Senate version

By William J. Ford - Maryland Matters

April 3, 2026 2:00 p.m.

Sen. William C. Smith Jr. (D-Montgomery). Photo credit: Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters

A House panel Thursday approved a clean Senate version of a bill that would make it harder to charge youth in adult courts, smoothing the way to final passage for a proposal that has been more than a decade in the making.

The House Judiciary Committee voted 14-5 to accept Senate Bill 323 and send it to the full House, which could consider the bill as early as Friday.

The committee vote came hours after a spirited meeting of the Legislative Black Caucus, where members expressed frustration that the Senate version of the bill does not do enough to help Black youth.

“I am against the tough love,” said Del. Frank Conaway Jr. (D-Baltimore City), one of the 14 Democrats to vote for the bill in committee. “I’m for the education and I’m for this bill.”

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But Del. Lauren Arikan (R-Harford), one of the five Republicans to vote against the bill in the party-line committee vote, said youth who commit serious crimes should receive strong punishment for their actions.

She cited the recent of 11-year-old Harford County twins who damaged vehicles while attempting to steal a car. The Harford County Sheriff’s Office said that because of the state’s current juvenile laws, the youth were “turned over to their parent and the vehicle owners were left with nothing to do, other than file an insurance claim.”

“Sometimes children act in such an egregious manner that it’s OK to make it a little scary,” Arikan said. “When children are allegedly committing very adult and very dangerous crimes, it’s OK for people to have potentially serious consequences and feel the weight of that. I think it’s very reasonable.”

SB 323, sponsored by Sen. William C. Smith Jr. (D-Montgomery), would raise the age when a youth could be tried as an adult for most crimes from 14 to 16, but 14- and 15-year-olds charged with first-degree murder or rape would still go directly to adult court. It also says 16-year-old charged with offenses such as first-degree assault and some firearms offenses would remain in juvenile court.

‘Make the point?’

The Judiciary Committee’s SB 323 debate lasted around 20 minutes, slightly less than the spirited Black Caucus debate during its last meeting of the 90-day session.

A few statistics highlight why some legislators argue that all charges against youth should go directly to juvenile court.

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Of the 147 youth charged in adult court for armed robbery in 2025, according to the state Department of Juvenile Services, only nine were incarcerated for more than 18 months.

A report last year from a workgroup of the Commission on Juvenile Justice Reform and Emerging and Best Practices said that youth spent 90 to 180 days in adult jails in fiscal 2024 before being transferred to juvenile court. Federal guidelines say youth must not be held in adult facilities for more than six hours “unless a court finds it is in the interest of justice based on a seven-factor test.”

Smith said at a panel discussion at Georgetown University in November that the state could save about $17 million annually by eliminating the practice of charging youth as adults, especially when at least 80% of those cases will be dismissed or sent back down to juvenile court.

“There is no reason why we need to be compromising amongst ourselves and allowing our Black children to be incarcerated at the rates at which they are incarcerated,” Del. Tiffany Alston (D-Prince George’s) said at Thursday’s Black Caucus meeting. “We need to send a work product that truly reflects our values as Black people and as a Black caucus.”

That sentiment was echoed by Del. Andrea Fletcher Harrison (D-Prince George’s), who noted that immigration and other bills were worked on earlier in the session than the youth automatic charging bill that would help Black children.

“We got to wait until the end of the daggone session to deal with our issues? I’m sorry, that just got me,” she said. “Half of those Black children that are locked up now look like my sons and my nephews and all of ours.”

Smith, chair of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee and a member of the caucus, reiterated what he said Tuesday to the Judiciary Committee, when he noted the number of bills slated to come to the House floor and the April 13 end of the session.,

“It will be extremely difficult, and I don’t think there’s enough time for it” to pass with changes, said Smith, particularly given “the tenuous … coalition that I h ad to put together to get it over.”

House Speaker Joseline Peña-Melnyk (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel), a caucus member, credited Smith on getting a compromise the Senate could approve.

“I’ve been here 20 years. I know that bill will die with the changes because it was tough to put together what he did,” Peña-Melnyk said. “Do you want to do that to make the point and have a strong bill across the street, or do you want to get something this year that will benefit some people and get it done?”

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: editor@marylandmatters.org.

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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine