Senate committee again ponders bill to reduce the number of juveniles charged as adults

For a second year, a Senate committee considered legislation that would alter laws that send some juveniles automatically to adult court, and for a second year, law enforcement groups argued against it.

By: William J. Ford

Outlets: Maryland Matters

Published: February 5, 2026

Words: 946

Last Updated: 3 weeks, 1 day ago

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Sen. William C. Smith Jr. (D-Montgomery) was testifying Wednesday on his bill to end the practice of automatically charging some youth as adults when he gave a small history lesson.

Smith showed the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee a historic photo of the House of Reformation and Instruction for Colored Children, which opened around 1870 — about 20 years after the House of Refuge for juvenile offenders. That facility, on the site of what is the …

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