ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Juvenile justice reform is one of several pieces of legislation up for discussion in Annapolis this year.
While lawmakers in Annapolis talk about the future of the juvenile justice reform bills, a Baltimore man is sharing their connection to a crucial part of his past.
Michael Singleton spends his days whipping up his favorite recipes.
While living out his dream now as a chef at Black Sauce Kitchen, Singleton remembers a time when he was 17, where all of his potential was put in jeopardy.
"It was my senior year in high school. We were at a party in Woodlawn and I found a gun in the bushes so I just brought it home,” he said.
A month later, Singleton says while his parents were away, he showed his friends what he'd found.
“We were looking at the gun, this and that and the other. I put the gun down and my other homeboy came over and he was banging on the door real loud,” said Singleton.
He picked up the gun to put it away. he says he mistakenly grabbed it by the trigger then the gun went off.
"My homeboys like ‘Yo i think you shot me and I'm like I ain’t shoot you', then he lifted up his leg and you can see blood pouring out and I was like 'woah I think I did shoot you'."
Shortly after, his friend shared what happened with authorities and that landed Baltimore City Police right on his front door step.
He'd be arrested and charged with possession of a handgun, reckless endangerment, firing and firing a gun within city limits.
Those charges led to court dates where he'd be tried as an adult.
"I had to go through this battery of psychological tests to show that I should be charged as a juvenile, that I had the mind and mentality of a juvenile."
He describing the process as "long, drawn out grueling."
Current Maryland laws charge youth as adults for offenses like first degree murder, rape, sex offenses, abduction kidnapping among others..
SB 165 sponsored by Senator Jill Carter aims to repeal that policy changing the procedure of trying minors as adults
"It's common sense reform that's going to remove kids from the adult system to start their case,” said Joshua Rovner with the Sentencing Project.
He’s in favor of the bill and believes it's passage could have a significant impact on youth now calling the changes procedural in nature but impactful.
"That's why we have a juvenile system, because everyone understands kids are different and this is going to align Maryland with what's happening elsewhere,” said Rovner.
“There’s really no other state that I know of that has a list as long as Maryland does and as a result no state other than Alabama sends more kids automatically into the adult courts more than Maryland," he continued.
That's a statistic he says impacts efficiency within the courts.
“What ends up happening is one the case gets under a judge they end up dismissed or their waved back down again. So 85 percent of the time the cases that start in adult court either get dismissed or waived back down to juvenile court where it should’ve begun in the first place. It's a pretty inefficient system we have right now,” Rovner shared.
Though it was a long process Singleton's case was dropped down to juvenile court and his record was expunged, something he believes would’ve been impossible without the money and resources his family had.
“It wasn't about the crime. It was about my access to resources. Somebody could have been charged with the same thing I got charged with and the system would have treated him differently not based on the crime, just access to resources. I had a father that used to practice law. I think this kind of legislation will give those people who don't have access to the resources a fair shake as they confront the system,” Singleton concluded.
The most recent hearing for that bill was back in January which is triggering some impatience.
Another bill aimed at juvenile justice reform is SB 53 regarding parents' knowledge and presence during the interrogation process.
It was filed this year as well and Michael Singleton also supports that bill.
The bill's author Baltimore City Senator Jill Carter hopes that the judicial proceedings committee, where the bill has been sitting since it was heard in late January will finally get a vote next week.
She's confident it will pass but has another worry.
“I've been embarrassed at Maryland is so far behind so many other states, so many more conservative states, who have such a terrible, abysmal record for how we treat children, you know, juvenile and criminal justice systems. But the biggest fear is not that something will pass, the bigger fear is that something terrible will pass,” said Senator Carter.
Bills that don't make it through their first chamber by the end of the day March 21st won't get the opportunity to pass this session.
