DJS leads audit to exchange information on juvenile crime

BALTIMORE — Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is directing the state Department of Juvenile Justice to review its rules for sharing information about young people who have been charged or convicted of violent crimes and attend public schools.

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The passing on of juvenile delinquency became a flashpoint after a 17-year-old Howard County student was charged with first-degree murder earlier this month.

The student who owned an ankle monitor after his attempted murder conviction last year is accused of killing a man whose body was found in a car near Howard High School, where the Anne Arundel County student transferred.

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The killing prompted the state Education Department this week to require school leaders to confidentially disclose information about a student’s criminal history when they are transferred to a new district.

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Howard County Schools Superintendent William Barnes said last week:

Now Moore is directing the Department of Juvenile Services to oversee a regulatory review of information-sharing procedures.

Moore said in a statement that he will “closely review this interagency review once it is completed.”

The state’s newly formed Commission on Juvenile Justice Reform and New Best Practices (formed before the Howard County incident) will also hold its first meeting soon and consider the new interagency review.