Maryland Ends Automatic Adult Charges for Youth, Cutting Incarceration Rates
Maryland Governor Wes Moore has signed the Youth Charging Reform Act into law, a legislative action that will end the automatic charging of individuals under 18 as adults, according to a release from The Sentencing Project. The measure addresses Maryland’s historically high rate of prosecuting minors in adult courts, a practice that disproportionately affected Black youth within the state’s justice system.