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Juvenile Services explains detention process, schedules GPS rollout and highlights 'credible messenger' programs
Summary
DJS told the Public Safety Committee how intake and detention decisions are made, committed to moving community monitoring to GPS on July 1, and described credible‑messenger initiatives (Thrive, Access) that officials said reduce recidivism for participants.
Deputy Secretary Lisa Gary of the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services described DJS’s intake, detention‑risk assessment and community‑detention tools to the Council’s Public Safety Committee on May 12 and announced that the agency plans to transition community monitoring to GPS devices on July 1.
Gary explained that DJS receives both paper referrals and custody requests and that the department uses an objective detention‑risk instrument to assess two questions: whether a youth is a risk of failing to appear for court and whether they are a risk of committing a new offense while awaiting hearings. “Detention is not intervention,” Gary said, emphasizing that detention is a temporary hold for due‑process, not a therapeutic placement.
She described a continuum of community detention tools — from reporting hours and in‑person checks to electronic monitoring and GPS — and said GPS provides more precise location data that can reduce the need for total house arrest. When Councilman Blanchard asked whether DJS could move fully to GPS, Gary replied that DJS planned a full GPS rollout by July 1 and agreed to provide a July 7 committee status update confirming the transition.
DJS also outlined programs that pair youth with “credible messengers” and life coaches. The department said its Thrive Academy and Access initiatives supply intensive supports: a life coach, mentoring and structured services designed to keep young people engaged in school or workforce training. DJS reported early positive results: for Access, 94% of participants appeared in court and did not reoffend in the program window, and Thrive participants showed high rates of school or training engagement.
On recidivism, Gary said some city indicators are improving — overall referrals to DJS fell 32% between 2015 and 2024 and year‑to‑date juvenile complaints were down — but she acknowledged chronicity among a relatively small group of repeat offenders and said that credible‑messenger work and expedited aftercare planning for placements are priorities.
What the committee asked DJS to deliver: a July 7 confirmation of the GPS transition and later briefings showing cohort‑level outcomes that track young people from first contact through disposition and post‑disposition services.
