LISTEN NOW 🎧: State Sen. Will Smith joins WYPR to discuss the graveyard at Cheltenham and the need for youth justice reform in the upcoming legislative session. Link in thread.

Thank you to Sen. Will Smith for fighting for Maryland's youth today and rectifying past harms. Kids need #CareNotCages

Calling all Maryland libraries and bookstores 📣 It's Youth Justice Action Month! Help us spread the word this October. Find the YJAM reading list at bit.ly/YJAMReading.

Share this post with your favorite local library or bookstore!
#YJAM2025 #UnitedForAction #UnitedForUnderstanding

October is Youth Justice Action Month (YJAM)! We'll be spending the month raising awareness about the unique challenges young individuals face within the justice system and advocating for fair, effective, and developmentally appropriate responses.

Learn more: youthjusticeactionmonth.org

We’re #BaltimoreProud of the work our city has done to reduce crime through violence reduction strategies. We need to keep investing in what works to help our city thrive. #NoTroops

"Does the state really want future generations to look at Maryland’s current failings on Black children with the same disgust and judgment of its actions as I imagine many people do now at the site of the unmarked graves at Cheltenham?"

A must-read by Liz Ryan via Maryland Matters. Link in thread.

Read the full story at www.thebaltimorebanner.com/politics-pow...

The MD Department of Juvenile Services made three personnel changes after a report found fault in DJS operations. Wilkerson of MYJC said the report’s findings show, “once again, why incarcerating young people should be avoided, or used only as a last resort” and called on the state to “do better.”

“Decades of experience and research have shown that there are almost always better, more effective and more humane alternatives to incarceration,” says Alice Wilkerson of the Maryland Youth Justice Coalition (MYJC), “as the latter leads to evident abuses and also greater recidivism.”

👏 "Baltimore’s achievement shows that real, lasting safety comes from addressing violence at its source, not from adding years to prison sentences." Read and learn from Natasha Dartigue: www.baltimoresun.com/2025/06/21/r...

Must read from former Secretary Schiraldi on why Maryland must end automatically charging kids as adults: www.baltimoresun.com/2025/06/26/s...

Learn more about the Secretary Fox Tolentino's vision for DJS: www.thebaltimorebanner.com/politics-pow...

📰 More must read media coverage for the week: Interview with new Secretary of DJS Betsy Fox Tolentino, op-ed from former Secretary Vinny Schiraldi, and an op-ed from Maryland's Public Defender Natasha Dartigue. Links and more in thread ⬇️⬇️

Read Student Justice Alliance founder and River Hill High School student Alvin Lee's guest commentary on abuse and the need for reform in the youth justice system at www.baltimoresun.com/2025/06/23/j...

We agree with this must-read: "We must be dissatisfied — dissatisfied by the status quo proposed by the state, and dissatisfied with the state’s refusal to protect its children."

www.baltimoresun.com/2025/06/23/j...

MUST WATCH: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Solitary confinement. Mass youth arrests. The crisis in youth justice is nationwide—and Maryland is no exception. While our state wasn’t named, the issues still hit close to home. Reform can’t wait. Kids deserve better.

youtu.be/Pya-kt5M7uY?...

Visit www.npr.org/2025/06/05/n... to read the NPR article.

@govwesmoore.bsky.social @senbillferg.bsky.social

It's time for our leaders to act and end the autocharging of youth as adults, and protect our youth – our future – from these heinous conditions. Accountability can come without furthering trauma and harm. Let's make a better future for our young people together.

When political leaders like Ivan Bates say that kids need accountability, and should be sent to adult facilities, this is what they are advocating for. Compounding trauma and 'tough on crime' policies that will not keep ANYONE safe. We've seen how this goes.

This piece from Rachel Baye featured on NPR today via WYPR tells a haunting story. Because we have 33 crimes that lead youth to automatically be charged as adults, we lead the country in the number of youth charged as adults, second only to Alabama.

This will cost us in so many ways, from the loss of federal funding as a penalty, to the trauma and suffering we are inflicting on a generation of young people – specifically young Black boys.

🧵 Maryland is leading the country when it comes to our youth for all the wrong reasons. Our state has the highest number of violations of federal standards for youth kept in adult jails. 7x HIGHER than the allowable number of violations.