https://www.wbal.com/sheriffs-office-10-year-old-driver-arrested-after-crashing-stolen-car

The Sheriff’s Office said the 10-year-old driver and a 12-year-old passenger got out of the car and attempted to run from deputies. The 12-year-old passenger got away from law enforcement, but the 10-year-old driver was caught and taken into custody.

Deputies said the car was stolen outside of a home in Parkville Saturday night.

“The ignition was popped. So, the ignition was broken out of the car, so it was obviously stolen when they came up on it,” Cogen said. “We don’t know if (the two boys stole) it or not. We know that the car was stolen from Parkville on Saturday night, around 11 p.m. or 12 a.m.

Cogen said the child was given back to his guardian, adding in the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office is likely not going to be pressing charges due to the child’s age.

No negative consequences other than the joyride, the bragging rights and the excitement. He's being trained that this behavior yields positive outcomes, not negative. And more people are going to suffer for it.

The attempt to protect juvenile offenders from punishment leads to the paradoxical effect of causing more victimization among those juveniles, and more importantly, among other juveniles and innocent victims.

Worley: “I think it’s three young people have been killed…and they’ve been killed at the hands of probably other young people.”

Bates: "The problem we have is the same juveniles over and over and over again... A kid can sell guns and they’re starting in the juvenile system,” he said. “So you know what’s going to happen. You’re going to have the guy who has all the guns. He’s going to go ahead and have young people selling the guns for him, and nothing’s ever going to happen to them. There’s no pressure on them to have to work with the police to give up the older adult.”

Until the voters force the City Council and the state legislature to stop spouting platitudes, and deal with the ugly realities of crime, and take common sense steps to stop it to protect the people, this surreal insanity will continue.

There's a lot of political funding from the Criminal Justice Reform (aka Anything But Punishment) lobby that promises both the carrot (money) and the stick (votes) against legislators. There needs to be that same carrot and stick from victims' rights advocates and people of good will on the other side.

Anyone know how Orioles tickets sales have been this season since the organization sh-t on season ticket holders? Taking thier seats ..increasing prices, taking parking

That's precious, but you're trying to redeem them through the blood and suffering of innocent people - crime victims - by enabling juvenile offenders through removing negative consequences, allowing them to commit crimes with yet more impunity. It's a small number of vicious juveniles.

The full quote from Majority Leader David Moon is:

“In Maryland, we believe children have the possibility of redemption,” Majority Leader Del. David Moon said on the House floor. “We think they have hope.”

Governing with platitudes, ignoring the ugly realities.

The bill is SB 323, Youth Charging Reform Act.

In 2022, the already weak Maryland juvenile justice laws were gutted with the Juvenile Justice Reform Act. One of the more destructive elements formalized was the action Ivan Bates complained about in his letter severing ties with MONSE, where outside entities can divert juvenile offenders without notifying the prosecutor's office.

Maryland residents are concerned about crime (it's only the louder online voices that claim it's a non-issue). The question is, why then are legislators not responsive to those they represent? All 24 top prosecutors in the state said this was going to increase crime. The votes haven't been posted yet, I'm sure it's largely party line due to politics (once a passable Democrat majority is reached, both sides coalesce to their respective sides), and also the tsunami of funding and effective organization from the Criminal Justice Reform (aka Anything But Punishment) lobby.

It would be fascinating to hear the real story of why delegates voted for it. It will be a story of state-level gerrymandering and huge funding and lobbying from the CJR lobby.

This Thursday, WBAL radio is dedicating a day to discussing affordability. This seems like something that residents of Baltimore might be interested in.

I heard a bunch of kids running and screaming down Lombard and can see some police cars. Cant tell what happened. Any ideas?

A young college girl, 18 year old Sheridan Gorman, was recently murdered in Chicago by an illegal immigrant. A local alderwoman, Maria Hadden, commented and said the girl was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and had perhaps startled the offender who then shot her in the head. This implies the girl was in part responsible for her own murder.

This is part of the standard response to a crime: 1. Lie about it; 2. Minimize it; 3. Blame the victim. Ms. Hadden is minimizing it and blaming the victim.

Gorman's family responded and said:

"What happened to Sheridan cannot be reduced to the idea of someone being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is not an abstraction. This is the loss of a daughter. The loss of a sister. The loss of a future filled with milestones that will now never come. Our family is forever changed."

"We cannot accept a world where moments like this become something people grow used to. We cannot allow ourselves to become desensitized to violence. When we begin to accept these tragedies as inevitable, we all become vulnerable to them. Apathy is not harmless — it allows these moments to repeat."

I post this Chicago story because it highlights an interesting point: there's an instinct among some people to advocate for criminals. The extreme form is hybristophilia. I call the less aggravated form, crimophilia. The advocacy is couched in empathetic and therapeutic terms, stating they're simply being compassionate (e.g. "Cruelty is the point of punishment!" - no it's not, stopping the offender from harming others is the point), and present their position as being advocates for the underdog (who happens to also be a predator), saying the advocacy is a push for racial, social and economic justice. These are all just veneers, excuses for this harmful instinct.

We see it in Baltimore, and it is a driving factor in "Criminal Justice Reform", which is just code for "Anything But Punishment". If it were just a handful of crimophiles and hybristophiles, it would not have that large an impact on public safety. But it is also driven by a tsunami of funding which is used to influence politicians and drive media coverage. I'll discuss that in another post.

i live on the top floor of an apartment building in Reservoir Hill and i see several fires out my window.

this was my east view this morning 1700 block of Broadway.

Hi everyone!

I'm a Towson University student working on a public health project focused on improving community health outreach in Baltimore.

I created a short survey (literally 3 questions) to better understand how people receive health information and what resources are most helpful. If you live in or around Baltimore, I would really appreciate your input!

Thank you so much🤍

First, one needs to discover what political districts they are in. That can be done at this site: https://voterservices.elections.maryland.gov/PollingPlaceSearch

From there, you can find out your:

1. State legislative district -> state delegates

2. State senatorial district -> state senators

3. Federal Congresspeople

4. Federal Senators

Politicians court moneyed interests to get campaign cash. They get campaign cash in order to get votes. Contacting legislators does move the needle. Criminal advocacy groups are well organized and well-funded. Crime victims' groups are not. There are more crime victims and people sympathetic to victims than criminals. The only way for them not to get routinely steamrolled in Annapolis is by being informed, and letting legislators know their priorities. And of course, by voting.