<p>A Maryland office received $622,883 from the Department of Justice to assist youth with drug and mental health issues but reportedly served very few clients, according to a federal audit.</p>
<p>The state’s Office of the Public Defender did not find an approved mental health agency to treat the youth despite utilizing the entire grant amount from 2020 to 2025, as stated in a report from the DOJ’s inspector general office released on Thursday. The Maryland agency has advocated for treatments as alternatives to incarceration, referring to young offenders as "justice-involved youth" in discussions with local officials.</p>
<p>“We concluded that the grant requirements and the expected goal of the award were not met, and we identified $622,883 in questioned costs, which represents the entire grant amount,” the inspector general report indicated. The report requested the public defender’s office to address the misused taxpayer funds and revise its internal policies for better oversight.</p>
<p>The DOJ initially expected Maryland to serve 150 clients annually with the funds, but this target was reduced to 30 in 2023. Ultimately, the public defender’s office could not provide evidence that more than 10 clients were served, according to auditors. The office attributed these challenges to “fewer court referrals than anticipated,” the COVID-19 pandemic, “barriers” in rural areas, and “lower arrest rates among juveniles,” as noted in the report.</p>
<p>Maryland Public Defender Natasha Dartigue responded to the DOJ’s findings, stating that her office recognized the need for improved documentation processes, which have since been implemented. She emphasized that these administrative issues did not hinder the delivery of essential services to 48 rural youth during the pandemic. Dartigue noted that the DOJ’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention monitored their progress and consistently validated their work as satisfactory and compliant.</p>
<p>“We have taken the administrative feedback seriously, but it is critical to distinguish between the ‘administrative deficiencies’ found by the OIG and the programmatic success we delivered to vulnerable youth,” Dartigue stated. “We look forward to continued collaboration in support of our youth.”</p>
<p>Maryland lawmakers are addressing the state’s higher youth incarceration rates compared to the national average. Reports indicate that juvenile arrests in Maryland were 20% higher in 2024 than in 2020, with increases each year from 2021 to 2024, according to the state’s Department of Juvenile Services.</p>
<p>For the Office of the Public Defender and other state officials, one proposed solution is to reduce the number of individuals incarcerated.</p>
<p>Governor Wes Moore (D-MD) signed the Youth Charging Reform Act in May, which eliminates seven categories of crimes for which youth would be tried in adult courts instead of juvenile courts. Starting in October, juvenile courts will have jurisdiction over certain assault, abduction, kidnapping, robbery, gun, and sexual offense cases, as well as some life-sentence crimes for defendants aged 14 to 16.</p>
<p>The Office of the Public Defender praised the law for reducing Maryland’s carceral system but indicated that further reforms are necessary.</p>
<p>“But 26 automatic pathways to adult court remain,” the office stated. “Twenty-six offenses where a child can still be sent into the adult system before the law requires anyone to ask a single question about who that child is. The evidence is clear: automatic adult prosecution does not make communities safer.”</p>