Tale of Two Jurisdictions: Youth Crime and Detention Rates in Maryland and the District of Columbia

The report looks at youth crime and detention rates during the 1990’s in the District and Maryland. During the decade, DC’s juvenile detention rate dropped 71%, while Maryland’s detention rate increased by 3%. During the same decade, DC’s violent juvenile crime rate dropped by more than three times as much as violent juvenile crime dropped in Maryland (55% vs. 15%). Juvenile property crime declined at about the same rate in DC and in Maryland (about 30%), though DC showed a larger overall decline from the early 1990’s. As such, while the District was substantially reducing its juvenile detention rate, it was experiencing larger declines in violent juvenile crime than Maryland, which was slightly increasing its use of detention.

This report was created as part of Building Blocks for Youth, a project of the Youth Law Center.