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Council hearing on LO25‑0005 spotlights juvenile‑justice coordination, requests longitudinal outcomes data
Summary
At a May public‑safety committee hearing on bill LO25‑0005, council members pressed police, the Department of Juvenile Services and city youth offices for better cross‑agency tracking of juvenile cases and for scheduled follow‑ups on monitoring technology and outcomes.
The Baltimore City Council Public Safety Committee held a hearing May 12 on LO 25‑0005, a bill to create regular committee oversight of the city’s crime‑reduction and violence‑prevention programs with a special focus on juvenile justice. Committee Chair Mark Conway, representing the Fourth District, opened the session by saying the hearing would “dig in today, in the second part of our meeting on juvenile crime.”
Why it matters: Council members said they want to see how young people move through arrest, court and service systems so the city can close gaps that allow repeat offending. Conway told agency leaders he continues to “hear, anecdotally about instances where young people sort of slip through the cracks,” and asked for clearer, longitudinal outcome data linking arrests to court decisions and post‑case services.
The hearing assembled senior staff from the Baltimore Police Department, the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services (DJS), the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE), and the Mayor’s Office of African American Male Engagement (MOAIM). Speakers described recent operational changes — including a centralized juvenile booking process at BPD, weekly case check‑ins with DJS for “youth of concern,” and new monitoring and diversion programs — and acknowledged that agency data systems are not yet integrated end to end.
Deputy Secretary Lisa Gary of the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services described the agency’s intake and detention process, and stressed an often‑repeated theme: “Detention is not intervention.” She walked the committee through DJS’s detention‑risk screening and the difference between custody (secure detention) and community‑based monitoring, and said DJS will move to GPS monitoring for community detention devices on July 1.
Council members used the hearing to request concrete follow‑ups. Councilman Blanchard asked for a status update confirming the full GPS transition after the July Fourth weekend; DJS agreed to provide a July 7 update. Committee members also asked the agencies to return with a plan for longitudinal outcome measures — for example, whether youth who receive diversion or wraparound services go on to finish school, find employment, or avoid repeat juvenile or adult charges.
The hearing produced no vote or formal committee action on LO 25‑0005 during the session. Instead the meeting concluded with the chair promising a series of follow‑ups and data requests to help the committee evaluate whether city‑level programs and court decisions are preventing future violence.
Looking ahead: Committee members said they will hold agencies to the follow‑up schedule and expect written data that tracks cohorts of young people from first contact through disposition and post‑disposition services.
