YOUTH PROBATION

There is a growing consensus among experts that current models for juvenile
probation are developmentally inappropriate and ineffective.1 Research has
shown that probation interventions are often unnecessary, interrupting normal
adolescent development, especially because “most youth grow out of lawbreaking
without any intervention from the justice system. 2 When juvenile probation is
structured like adult probation, focused on technical compliance rather than
tangible, holistic goals, places youth at greater risk of being violated, detained and
committed, thereby deepening their involvement with the criminal justice system and
deepening the existing racial inequity inside that system.

Probation is the most common disposition for young people in the juvenile justice
system.3 On any given day, pre-COVID, there were 2,000 young people on DJS
probation supervision.4 Between FY12-17 in Maryland, over a quarter of youth
committed for the first time were committed for violating probation and not a new
offense.5 Many of those violations were for status offenses - things that are barred
due only to the youth’s age, not because the underlying conduct is criminal – like
failure to attend school.

A juvenile legal system that allows young people to take accountability for
wrongdoing and accept responsibility are crucial for healthy adolescent
development. When consequences are far removed, in time, from the underlying
offense young people do not connect the consequences to their actions and can
perceive the system as unfair. This reinforces social disaffection and negative
attitudes toward the law. It is therefore essential that youth probation be designed
to ensure young people have a meaningful opportunity to participate and be
successful in a finite, developmentally appropriate period of time.
HB1187/SB853 addresses this problem by limiting the amount of time a young
person can be placed on probation. It would set a maximum initial term of: 6
months for misdemeanors (max extension 1 year), 1 year for most felonies (max
extension 2 years), and a maximum 2 years (max extension to age 21) for the most
serious crimes.

1 Annie E. Casey Foundation, Transforming Juvenile Probation: A Vision for Getting It Right (2018). See also, National
Research Council, Reforming Juvenile Justice: A Developmental Approach. Washington, DC: The National Academies
Press (2013.).
2 Id.
3 Department of Juvenile Services, Data Resource Guide FY 2019, p. 12
4 Supra, note 1.
5 Id. at 100.