How to Improve Youth Diversion Programs in Maryland
WASHINGTON (Feb. 24, 2021)—Today, R Street criminal justice and civil liberties scholars Casey Witte and Emily Mooney released a high-level overview of the formal law enforcement-driven youth diversion programs in Maryland. They break down how county and municipal law enforcement agencies administer or partner with programs (where they exist), as well as reported outcomes and the challenges they face. Witte and Mooney also provide a policy roadmap to improve upon law enforcement-driven diversion opportunities across the state.
“While parts of Maryland have taken steps to establish and support law enforcement-driven youth diversion programs, the system can best be defined as a loose patchwork that often neglects rural counties in the state,” said Witte and Mooney. “The sooner that diversion programs can effectively engage youth, the better the potential gain for public safety in the future.”
In Maryland, the vast majority of youth who enter the juvenile justice system are referred to the Department of Juvenile Services (DJS) for minor infractions. At least 145,000 individuals aged 11-17 currently live in a jurisdiction in Maryland without an active, county-wide law enforcement-driven diversion program. More than 43,000 of these young people reside in counties without either a law enforcement-driven or other program that diverts youth away from formal processing prior to a referral to the DJS.
The authors concluded that geography—in this case the county where a person resides—plays a significant factor in how heavily young people are impacted by the justice system in Maryland. They also recommend that each county-wide agency should establish or partake in at least one pre-arrest diversion program; the state standardize data collection and publication and make plans to independently evaluate each program; and local lawmakers should cut bureaucratic red tape to expand current practices that are successful.
Key Highlights:
- In 2020, 77 percent of the juvenile complaints referred to DJS were done so for citations, ordinance violations and misdemeanors — and fewer than 40 percent of complaints resulted in a formal petition to the State’s Attorney. These non-serious referrals can consume time and resources that could be better-focused toward youth with more serious needs if police diversion was more common.
- County-wide law enforcement and DJS staff serving Allegany, Caroline, Carroll, Dorchester, Kent, Somerset, Wicomico, and Worcester counties did not report any diversion programs currently used by law enforcement.
- Neither the Prince George’s County Sheriff’s Office nor the Prince George’s County Police Department (PGPD) are currently directly involved in running any formal youth diversion programs. Rather, their State’s Attorney’s Office diverts some youth who come into contact with police prior to DJS referral.
- The Montgomery County Policy Department (MCPD) screens all juvenile arrests within the larger county area for police diversion opportunities—including those from the Sheriff’s office, Transit and State Police, and the Rockville, Gaithersburg and Takoma Park Police Departments.
- The Chestertown City Police Department reported they were currently developing a restorative justice diversion program.
- COVID-19 and school closures are stressing existing law enforcement-driven youth diversion programs to the point where referrals have dropped and at least one program provider shuttered indefinitely.
- According to personnel, the Calvert County Sheriff’s Office diversion program helped drive down the number of youths on probation under the DJS from 70 each year to less than ten over the last decade.
- The Cecil County Neighborhood Youth Panel reported that historically, almost 90 percent of referred youth successfully complete the program. Among those who completed it from July 2018 to December 2019, only roughly 10 percent of youth reoffended.
Read the full report with a county-by-county analysis and policy recommendations here.
