This November attack, captured by a neighbor's home camera, set off a chain reaction in Baltimore's juvenile justice system.
The 12 & 14 y/o suspects seen in this viral video were released two hours after being arrested. That's the subject of a letter signed by 5 legislators & sent to Baltimore Police and Dept. of Juvenile Services, who said they are "deeply concerned" by this trend. @WMAR2News https://t.co/ZRdvifzfJy
— Elizabeth Worthington (@ElizWorthNews) November 6, 2023
The video shows two kids, who Baltimore police later identified as a 12 and 14 year-old, assault a woman walking home in Patterson Park and make off with her car keys.
They were eventually caught by police. A couple hours later, the pair was released from juvenile services.
The incident prompted four state representatives and one city councilman to send a letter to the Department of Juvenile Services (DJS) expressing their concerns, calling the release of the teenagers "an operational failure."
Now, two months later, DJS has removed the intake director at the Baltimore City Juvenile Justice Center - the person ultimately responsible for whether a juvenile is detained or released.
News of the firing was first reported by the Baltimore Banner, and confirmed to WMAR-2 News by Councilman Zeke Cohen, one of the people who signed the letter to DJS.
DJS does not comment on personnel matters.
"We're really glad to see that Secretary Schiraldi and the Department of Juvenile Services took our letter seriously and are making some pretty serious personnel changes to address what has been a really serious deficiency in their intake process," Cohen said.
Of the letter, Delegate Mark Edelson said, "What we learned through the process and our sort of independent analysis on it, was that DJS personnel were not following the law. And as a result, we were seeing an increased risk to the community."
Cohen and Edelson say DJS took a step in the right direction, but there's still a long way to go.
They say the biggest problem is a lack of communication.
That was evident at a December town hall on juvenile crime, when DJS Secretary Vincent Schiraldi and Juvenile Division Assistant State's Attorney Catharine Rosenblatt publicly clashed.
"Unfortunately in the past, our public safety agencies have been operating largely in silos, and that resulted in a lot of cracks in the system. Many people in need of services have fallen through those cracks," Edelson said.
"Everybody needs to be in the same room. We're all adults. We all need to work together," Cohen said.
They're confident that current city and state leadership is committed to doing just that.
"What I can tell you is that the leadership now, in our public safety agencies, has a spirit of collaboration that i haven't seen in a long time," Edelson said.
Cohen says letting kids go without any accountability is a disservice not only to the victim, but to the perpetrators too.
"We need accountability, but it's also because in many cases, those young people need services, and they need additional support. You don't just commit a flagrant violent crime if there isn't something really wrong going on," Cohen said.
The case that was addressed specifically in the letter involved a violation of the law - DJS is required to refer all violent cases to the State's Attorney's office. But under the 2022 Juvenile Justice Reform Act, some non-violent crimes can be diverted (when a juvenile is released and provided with services) without prosecutor approval.
“It is really important, whether it’s violent crime like we saw with the woman being attacked or whether it’s just car theft, that there is that immediate sense of accountability," Cohen said.