R Street Institute Letter to MD Governor Moore in support of SB652, Requiring the Department of Juvenile Services Report on Youth Related Shootings

April 12, 2024

The Honorable Westley Moore

Governor of Maryland

State House

100 State Circle 

Annapolis, MD 21401

RE: R Street Institute Support for Senate Bill 652, Department of Juvenile Services—Report on Shootings

Governor Moore:

I am writing to you on behalf of the R Street Institute to share our support for Senate Bill 652, a bill that would require the Department of Juvenile Services (DJS) to annually report specific data regarding shootings involving juveniles under department oversight. The R Street Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy research organization. Our mission is to engage in policy research and outreach to promote free markets and limited, effective government in many areas, including criminal justice reform and civil liberty issues. This is why we find SB 652 noteworthy.

As a public policy research organization, we at R Street believe that empirical, and objective information is critical for lawmakers and regulators in the policy making process. Clear data is incredibly helpful for legislators as they consider measures that impact the lives of all Maryland residents—this is why SB 652 is so important. This bill stipulates that DJS provide annual reports to the General Assembly and Juvenile Justice Reform Commission on the number of youths under supervision who were involved in shootings, the actions and processes instituted in response by the department, ages of juveniles involved, and relevant geographic information.

While overall juvenile crime remains below pre-pandemic levels and has generally been declining since the 1990’s, during the past decade the number of youth victimized by violent crime has increased and non-fatal shootings have quadrupled.^[1] In light of this troubling increase in firearm violence by and against adolescents, it is prudent for DJS to engage in a more detailed analysis and reporting of this issue for individuals under the department’s supervision.

Moreover, the legislation will foster a transparent and accountable system that can be examined and followed with more precision. Lawmakers in turn can have a better grasp on these issues, and the reports will help guide them in determining the efficacy of existing practices for juvenile supervision. In addition, this measure can be instituted without additional budgetary resources.

As you review SB 652, we encourage you to consider the benefits of this legislation. This bill will help provide more thorough data on juvenile shootings for youth under DJS supervision. These reports will help legislators make better decisions related to juvenile justice without additional funding to DJS. For these reasons, we respectfully request that you sign SB 652 into law.

Sincerely,

Robert Melvin

Senior Manager, State Government Affairs, Northeast Region

R Street Institute

[email protected] 

CC:        Eric Luedtke, Chief Legislative Officer, Office of Governor Westley Moore

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