THE recent series in documenting abuses of juvenile offenders in state boot camps comes on the heels of a scathing report by an international human rights group that criticized conditions for youths confined to Maryland's jails.
These revelations raise serious concerns about the state's handling of juvenile offenders and should prompt elected officials to re-examine the overly punitive policies that have been implemented in recent years.
"Maryland's jails are inappropriate places for youth, even for those accused of committing very serious crimes," the internationally acclaimed Human Rights Watch reported. "This conclusion is particularly compelling with regard to the Baltimore City Detention Center, where children endure dimly lit, dreary cells infested with vermin and face daily risks to their personal safety."
Given the serious and well-documented nature of the issues raised by Human Rights Watch, it would seem that the least the state can do is carefully investigate the true extent of the problem.
Also, since many of the youths who are jailed with adults will ultimately have their charges dismissed, reduced, dropped -- or have their cases transferred to the juvenile system -- Gov. Parris N. Glendening should sponsor legislation this year to ensure immediate reviews of charges for all youths who are automatically prosecuted as adults and prohibit minors from being imprisoned with adults.
The Human Rights Watch report recounted a litany of horrific conditions, including correctional facilities that are unsafe, unsanitary and inhumane.
Children are frequently placed in contact with adult inmates, sometimes even sharing cells with them. One youth in the Baltimore City Detention Center reported that adult detainees in his section frequently harassed him by throwing excrement and urine into his cell. Violence is common, and sometimes condoned by guards.
Youths in that jail reported that guards sometimes arrange fights between youths, which they call "square dances," because they take place in an open square area on an upper tier.
Despite the strong correlation between mental illness and delinquent behavior, mental health services in Baltimore's jail are minimal to non-existent, according to the report. Youths in crisis are placed in a mental health unit, where they are often kept naked.
Minority children are much more likely than white children to be tried as adults and sent to jail pending trial, the report stated. Some 39 percent of youths referred to the juvenile justice system are African-American, but 73 percent of youths tried as adults are black.
The report's author, Michael Bochenek, said that he was surprised to find such conditions in a progressive state like Maryland.
Judging from the initial reaction from some Maryland officials, improvements might not be right around the corner. LaMont W. Flanagan, who manages the jail as the state corrections department's commissioner of pretrial detention and services, greeted the report with a bevy of denials, calling the allegations that guards sanctioned fighting between inmates "pure fiction."
If this is some inmate-concocted conspiracy, then someone needs to explain to us how inmates interviewed at different times, on different days and in separate parts of the jail all told the same story.
Crime and punishment is too often argued on the extremes. In this case, there needs to be, and is, a great deal of middle ground where reasonable people ought to be able to agree without polarization and defensiveness.
For example, it is in no one's interest to treat juvenile offenders like animals. Research shows that when young people are locked up in adult jails, they are twice as likely to be assaulted and five times as likely to be sexually assaulted as youths held in juvenile facilities.
Perhaps that is why young people tried as adults get re-arrested more quickly, more frequently and for more serious offenses upon release than youths with similar offense profiles who are retained in the juvenile justice system.
In the wake of the Human Rights Watch report, the Maryland Juvenile Justice Coalition called for an independent grand jury investigation into the city's jail. That specific request wasn't granted, but, recently, State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy announced that she was requesting that a city grand jury that regularly inspects jails specifically investigate the Human Rights Watch allegations.
Failure to respond decisively and swiftly at this point is tantamount to giving up on our young people. And that is something we should never do.
Vincent Schiraldi is director of the Justice Policy Institute, a public policy and research group in Washington. Marc Schindler is a staff attorney with the Washington-based Youth Law Center, a national public interest law firm that works on behalf of youths in juvenile justice.
