Youth

For this youth football team, "Play like a Raven" isn't just an idle slogan. They are the Ravens - the Hampstead Ravens, that is. "Everyone wants to be us," player Larry Smith, 12, says of his opponents. For one thing, the Hampstead Ravens are winners: The team of 10- to 12-year-olds snagged the Maryland Youth Football championship for the second season in a row. And for another, since 1996 they have shared the name and logo of the Baltimore Ravens, who are on their way to Super Bowl XLVII.

The storms of winter 2010 shut down roads, cancelled classes, closed up shops and nearly ended a signature Baltimore event before it started. On a cold January night, organizers of the Pratt Contemporaries' inaugural Black and White Party watched the uncertain forecast and the falling snow, worried that the conditions were going to keep guests away from their humble celebration. Yet several inches of snow - usually a kiss of death for the winter-wary in Maryland - did not prevent 200 or so people from attending.

The O'Malley administration's decision to scrap its plans to build a $70 million youth jail in Baltimore is a major win for the city and its youth. It is made possible both by the significant successes of recent years in reducing violent crime and by a renewed effort on the part of the Department of Juvenile Services to place troubled youth in more appropriate settings, and it will end the deplorable practice of housing juveniles charges as adults in an adult jail. It is a credit to the advocates who have been fighting against the plan, and it deserves the legislature's support.

After years of community opposition, state officials have abandoned plans to build a new Baltimore jail for juveniles charged as adults, citing declines in youth crimes as they unveiled a plan Wednesday to send more teens to treatment programs and renovate a smaller facility for defendants in violent offenses. The $73 million plan, which needs approval from the General Assembly, lays the groundwork for a shift in the state's approach to teen crime in Baltimore. The state has faced persistent criticism over existing conditions for young defendants, but a proposal to build a new facility for juveniles raised concern that officials were not doing enough to deter children from lives of violence.

The Harford County Teen Court is looking for adult and teen volunteers to participate in the youth diversion program run in cooperation with the local courts, social services and community service agencies, police and the county school system. The Harford County Teen Court was piloted in the spring of 2011as a diversion program to provide first-time, non-violent youth offenders with a second chance. Offenders agree to participate in the Teen Court program and, if successful, avoid becoming involved in the juvenile justice system.

Raise your hand if you're surprised that the Terps have dropped two in a row after reeling off 13 straight wins. Remember that Mark Turgeon had suggested that the Atlantic Coast Conference schedule would be a whole different sort of affair - sort of a season within a season. I'm not sure we all believed him. His team was so dominant against mid-majors  -- displaying a potent offense and a knack for offensive rebounds. But when the coach says his team needs to grow up, I guess we should believe him. Maryland's inexperience was in marked contrast to the Hurricanes, who started four seniors in their 54-47 victory at BankUnited Center.

Every Wednesday, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., sisters Shytira and Shyrell Everett arrive at the Weinberg Family Center Y for two hours of charades, rock climbing, homework help, arts and crafts, picnics and other activities with mentors Sara Milstein and Kim Strassner. "My favorite activity is when we go to the art room to make arts and crafts," said Shytira, a third-grader at Harford Heights Elementary School in Baltimore, who is 9 and talkative and ties her hair in ponytails decorated with pink and blue beads.

We no longer have children or kids or teenagers or young people. We used to have them, but now we just have youth .  Youth  used to be a singular, that thing that is wasted on the young, or the individual in the Sydney Smith screed about taxation: "The schoolboy whips his taxed top; the beardless youth manages his taxed horse with a taxed bridle on a taxed road; and the dying Englishman, pouring his medicine, which has paid seven...

Your recent editorial on the proposed expansion of the Silver Oak Academy juvenile resident treatment facility failed to address the immediate need for additional treatment beds for youthful offenders ("Backsliding at DJS," Jan. 7). Far from "backsliding," the Department of Juvenile Services is showing great foresight in seeking capacity to treat youth who would otherwise be in detention while waiting for a vacant treatment bed and not getting credit for their time in detention. The simple reality is that we do not have enough space in state-run facilities for youth awaiting treatment.

Fourteen members of the defending national champion Loyola men's lacrosse team took time from their holiday break today to travel to Newtown, Conn., and lead a youth clinic in the town rocked by a mass shooting last month at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The trip was the idea of freshman defenseman  Jason Crane (Chesapeake-Anne Arundel). Players departed Maryland this morning and picked up teammates on the trip to Connecticut. Others who live in the New England region met the team in Newtown.