NJJN responds to MD Juvenile Law Reform Bill HB 814/SB744
Contact: Courtney M. McSwain, NJJN Director of Communications, mcswain@njjn.org
The National Juvenile Justice Network joins our partners from the Maryland Youth Justice Coalition in expressing our alarm and disappointment in the Juvenile Law Reform Bill HB 814/SB744 released by the Senate and House of Delegates leadership today during a press conference at the Maryland General Assembly. The sponsors of this bill are exploiting genuine community concerns about safety to return to the failed policies of criminalizing children despite 20 years of research that shows such approaches don’t improve community safety at all. We encourage the people of Maryland to demand their policymakers stop leveraging fear and start taking safety seriously by directing investments toward the state’s systems of youth care, healing, and restoration - not more pathways into the carceral system.
Read more about the Maryland Youth Justice Coalition at mdyouthjustice.org/
###
About National Juvenile Justice Network
The National Juvenile Justice Network builds the movement for anti-racist, healing-centered youth justice. We unite a diverse network of advocates and organizers to shift youth justice away from policing and prisons toward community-based, trauma-informed and healing-centered responses to youth needs. Our work centers the needs of the most marginalized, and we seek a reimagined future where Black, Brown, Indigenous, LGBTQIA+ youth, and youth with disabilities have the freedom, resources and opportunities necessary to thrive.
Home News Center Statement: Keep Maryland Moving Forward on Youth Justice