Maryland minors to be detained if arrested while on ankle monitoring under new DJS guidelines
The Maryland Department of Juvenile Services (DJS) announced new guidelines for young people on electronic monitoring who are arrested for serious crimes.
Juvenile services staff are required to detain youth who are arrested while wearing an electronic monitor until their next court day at the request of law enforcement. The policy took effect on July 3.
The acting secretary of the DJS said the decision came after a series of meetings with public officials, according to our partners at The Baltimore Banner. It also comes after recent incidents involving young people wearing ankle monitors.
Staff must attend court with the young person and report their behavior while wearing the monitor.
Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley shared his support for this move.
"I appreciate DJS for taking swift action in response to the concerns raised by me and members of my team," said Commissioner Worley. "Thank you, Secretary Fox Tolentino, for your willingness to address these issues head-on and for your commitment to both public safety and creating positive outcomes for our city's young people. I look forward to strengthening this partnership and working together to build safer communities for our residents and future generations."
New DJS leader
The move comes roughly a month after Gov. Wes Moore appointed Tolentino as the DJS Acting Secretary.
WJZ recently spoke to Tolentino, who shared her thoughts on electronic monitoring as a state tool.
"Electronic monitoring is a really important tool in the continuum to support young people, but we have to make sure we're using it appropriately and in the right circumstances," Tolentino said. "So that means we're doing a really good evaluation, making recommendations for monitoring when it fits the situation. And with any tool, it's only as good as your operations around it."
Tolentino added, "We're going to dig very deeply into that population and see what we do need to do differently — and that means using all our tools — whether it's additional monitoring, additional supervision, additional behavior change strategies, and using our highest-level interventions in receiving treatment in a residential facility."
