10/07/2026
A new law changed this month, and if you have a teenager in your life- here's what you should know.
Previously in Maryland, if a 16- or 17-year-old is charged with certain serious offenses (robbery, kidnapping, second-degree r**e, certain sexual offenses, fi****ms offenses) they are automatically charged as adults. Not because of the circumstances of the case. Not because a judge decided they should be. Just because of the charge itself.
Effective October 1, under the Youth Charging Reform Act, those cases will start in juvenile court instead. Juveniles 14 and older can still be automatically charged as adults for the most serious offenses (first-degree murder and first-degree r**e being the main ones). And the State can still ask a judge to move a case to adult court, but they have to actually make that case in an evidentiary hearing. It doesn't happen automatically anymore.
There's a second major piece of this law that gets less attention than it should: juveniles can no longer be held in adult detention facilities or prisons.
Under previous law, when a young person was charged as an adult, they were typically housed in an adult jail. To keep them safe, the law required "sight and sound separation" from adult inmates. In practice, that usually meant being locked in a cell 23 hours a day. Every day. For a kid.
That practice ended October 1.
Under the prior law, youth charged as adults are first sent to adult jail, then transferred to a juvenile detention facility if they are held without bond and a motion to transfer has already been filed. Youth therefore faced a danger of remaining in adult jail if the motion to transfer had not yet been filed, there is no capacity in a juvenile facility, or the judge (in his or her discretion) found housing the youth in a juvenile detention facility posed a risk of harm to his/herself or others. The new law removes the judge’s discretion and the requirement to file the transfer motion first. A youth can be held in an adult facility, but only for a max of 6 hours and only if no juvenile space is immediately available. Beginning in 2029, any hold in an adult facility will be barred.
Prior to the Youth Charging Reform Act’s passage, only Alabama sent more youth, per capita, to adult court than Maryland.
Why this matters to you. If you have a teenager, or love one, this is exactly the kind of information you want to have before you ever need it. If someone in your life is currently facing charges as a juvenile, or was recently, the new law may change how their case is handled. And if you know a parent going through this, forwarding this email to them is a genuinely useful thing to do.
If you have questions about how this change might affect a case you or someone you love is dealing with, call us.
