Juvenile Crime

"Scared straight" programs have long been wildly popular in this country as a get-tough response to juvenile crime. They typically involve bringing at-risk youths into an adult prison, where they are confronted — in shocking and brutal fashion — by adult inmates. These programs may include tours of the facility and personal stories from prisoners and may even integrate the youths into the prison population for up to a day. Experiencing the harsh reality of life behind bars is thought to deter kids from a life of crime by frightening them into changing their behavior.

With no thanks to the Democratic state senator who represents the area, the Baltimore County community of Perry Hall is safer from gun violence than it was six months ago. We can say that much. Sen. Kathy Klausmeier might have voted against the important gun control bill that her colleagues in the Maryland Senate passed on Thursday, but Bobby Gladden has gone to prison, and that means his former fellow students at Perry Hall High won't have to worry about seeing him with a gun in the cafeteria again.

In reference to Andrea Siegel 's article "Grieving mom works to help other youths" (May 30), it is sad and disturbing to witness or hear about teenage gangs who are involved in unacceptable behavior in their conflicts with other gangs or innocent bystanders. While I'm sure our justice system strives to controls this problem, in my opinion society has a responsibility to initiate a more effective rehabilitation program to salvage the lives of these troubled teenagers before they graduate into full fledged adult criminals, hence becoming a heavy liability to our communities, not only as a danger to others, but also as a burden to our justice system through their arrests, court trials, and prisons terms where they will associate with hardened criminals and upon their release start the cycle all over again.

With plenty of evidence to refute the need to spend millions to build a jail for juveniles, it would not be far-fetched to expect Gov. Martin O'Malley to instead focus his attention - and our state's precious resources - on projects that prevent youth from engaging in crime. Sadly, that would be a mistake. Recently, Governor O'Malley decided to double-down on the misguided plan to spend more than $70 million building a youth detention facility in Baltimore that studies show is not needed and could ultimately end up being a colossal waste of taxpayer funds.

IN the waning days of the gubernatorial race, be prepared to hear a bewildering and contradictory set of claims about the extent and nature of juvenile crime in Maryland and what should be done to prevent and reduce such crime. There is probably no greater political football than teen crime and punishment policy.Politicians seem unable to resist scoring points on this critical and highly emotional topic, yet it is precisely because of the understandably emotional and passionate feelings of the public that politicians of all stripes should treat the issue with care, precision and objectivity.

There is a lawless element among the youth in Anne Arundel County. A taste for booze, drugs and other people's cars has caused the greatest surge in juvenile crime in recent memory, county police say.The situation is serious enough that the Maryland state's attorney, Frank R. Weathersbee, last week created a team of prosecutors to address the problem of juvenile crime and figure out a way to control it."There was a time when the offenses juveniles committed were minor scuffs in school or with the law," Mr. Weathersbee said in announcing his Juvenile Trial Team.

A town angered by juvenile crime fought back last night.About 200 people -- 25 percent of the population of New Windsor -- filled Town Hall to question police, the state's attorney and juvenile service officials about what to do concerning vandalism, constant curfew violations and unsupervised young people."

Sometimes you have to play connect-the-dots across the landscape of various front page newspaper stories for a glance at the American psyche. In one story, we learn of alarming increases in the number of children living in poverty. In another, we find that Congress wishes to get tough on juvenile crime.Thus, society establishes a pattern that indicts everyone: First it makes life miserable for those in their time of great vulnerability, and then it punishes them for reacting with childish and destructive behavior to their crummy existence.

THE DOWNTICK in violent juvenile crime in 1995, just reported by Attorney General Janet Reno -- a 2.9 percent drop overall, murders declined 15.2 percent -- doesn't mean we're on our way out of the woods.The new figures follow some terrifying years -- six in which juvenile arrests for murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault rose 50 percent; seven in which juvenile arrests for weapons law violations doubled; 10 years that saw the number of homicides by juveniles triple.And the decline comes just as experts have been warning of a firestorm of crime as the ranks of 14- to 17-year-olds -- youth in their most violence-prone years -- will increase by 23 percent in the next decade.

RECENTLY released statistics on juvenile arrests look lik progress, but it's far too early to declare victory.The state's 7 percent reduction in juvenile arrests for violent crime from 1996 to 1997 is an indicator that doesn't tell us about crimes committed by teens who have not been taken into police custody for their misdeeds.Moreover, the juvenile justice system is in no danger of going out of business.Still, the results look impressive: Juvenile arrests in connection with serious crimes -- murder, robbery, rape and aggravated assault -- were down substantially.

As Maryland largest and wealthiest subdivision (and often ranked among the richest in the country), Montgomery County is not usually in the business of seeking advice from its neighbors. That's not mere elitism but much collective expertise at work — a higher percentage of its residents hold post-graduate degrees than any other county in America. As a result, Rockville is home to an activist county government with a fondness for innovation and progressive policymaking. So it comes as a bit of surprise to see the same folks who usually lecture Baltimore on matters of public policy take up a rather well-worn cause about which city residents are more than a little bit familiar: a curfew on teen-agers.

In reference to Andrea Siegel 's article "Grieving mom works to help other youths" (May 30), it is sad and disturbing to witness or hear about teenage gangs who are involved in unacceptable behavior in their conflicts with other gangs or innocent bystanders. While I'm sure our justice system strives to controls this problem, in my opinion society has a responsibility to initiate a more effective rehabilitation program to salvage the lives of these troubled teenagers before they graduate into full fledged adult criminals, hence becoming a heavy liability to our communities, not only as a danger to others, but also as a burden to our justice system through their arrests, court trials, and prisons terms where they will associate with hardened criminals and upon their release start the cycle all over again.

State officials have invested more manpower and money in an effort to get the most violent offenders sought on warrants off Baltimore's streets. Added Maryland state troopers will join the Warrant Apprehension Task Force, a collaboration of law enforcement agencies, through June in seeking Baltimore suspects in violent crimes such as robbery, assault, gun and sex offenses, domestic violence and more. A grant of nearly $152,000 from the Governor's Office on Crime Control and Prevention will cover overtime costs for the Summer Jumpstart Warrant Initiative.

Spending $70 to $100 million dollars on a new juvenile jail in East Baltimore — or any new juvenile jail for that matter — is not the best, most cost-effective way to proceed ("Downsizing juvenile jail" May 13). In Baltimore and around the country, there is increasing evidence that community-based alternatives to secure detention are decreasing recidivism rates and improving the lives of juveniles and their families while saving millions of taxpayer dollars. The Baltimore Youth Advocate Program (YAP)

"Scared straight" programs have long been wildly popular in this country as a get-tough response to juvenile crime. They typically involve bringing at-risk youths into an adult prison, where they are confronted — in shocking and brutal fashion — by adult inmates. These programs may include tours of the facility and personal stories from prisoners and may even integrate the youths into the prison population for up to a day. Experiencing the harsh reality of life behind bars is thought to deter kids from a life of crime by frightening them into changing their behavior.

The cops in Baltimore's Southwestern Police District knocked on 28 doors, searching for 28 juveniles they had locked up in the past month. They were serving not warrants to put them back in jail but invitations to a meeting, to teach, to guide, to inform, to keep them from being locked up a second time. Deputy Maj. Charles V. Carter Sr. led off the meeting, held Friday night at the Kedesh House of Prayer Christian Church on West Lombard Street, with a prayer and a reading of grim statistics of juvenile crime - 260 kids under 18 arrested this year in his district alone, 16 of them deemed violent, 27 of them repeat offenders.

Executives of a venture capital company that has been a mainstay in Baltimore's Mid-Town neighborhood for a quarter-century told the mayor they are moving to the suburbs because their employees no longer feel safe in the city, an economic blow that demonstrates the far-reaching impact crime can have on a neighborhood. The announcement from Louis Citron, the general counsel of New Enterprise Associates on St. Paul Street, which has offices in Chevy Chase, California, China and India, came in the form of an e-mail Thursday night to Mayor Sheila Dixon and three members of the City Council.