Pass bill, to help kids
It’s 1 in the afternoon, parents do you know where your child is? You may assume your little one is sitting in a classroom with other students.
Instead, your child could be in police custody under custodial interrogation. Wouldn’t you want to know which is true?
Current Maryland law does not require parental notice, nor the presence of counsel when a child is interrogated by law enforcement. Therefore, children often make false confessions because their brains are not fully developed until around 25 and children are motivated to falsely confess in exchange for short-term rewards.
These are the reasons I sponsored HB315 in the House of Delegates and Sen. Jill Carter cross-filed SB136 in the Senate. On March 20, the House passed the Juvenile Interrogation Protection Act unanimously, 90 – 41.
The Senate needs to also pass HB315 because children are people too!
The U.S. Supreme Court and 33 other states including North Carolina, New York, New Jersey, and Maine agree. Since the ‘90 s, states have required parental notification when a child is in police custody. In 2015, North Carolina updated their law to throw out any confession made to law enforcement outside the presence of a child’s parent or legal counsel.
That is not the language in HB315. In Maryland, things such as Justice and Equality, move slowly, so we drafted HB315 with parameters as to when certain statements made without parental notification or legal counsel advisement would be admissible.
For instance, if it is impossible or unsafe to do so, law enforcement may ask children limited questions to save a life in imminent danger. Or the questions may possibly be admissible when an officer’s questions are not willfully intended to violate the child’s rights.
In the spirit of transparency, be it known that members of law enforcement and the state’s attorneys, support the intent of the bill, but some continue to oppose it. Baltimore City and Prince George’s County state’s attorneys testified favorably on the bill.
I worked with the opposition. Several times we met and laid out our concerns and went back to the drafting table to come up with new language. The result is the closest compromise I am willing to live with as a state representative wanting to remain true to my constituents, especially those too young to vote yet the most affected by the outcome of this bill.
Thank you Speaker Adrienne A. Jones, House Judiciary Chairman Luke Clippinger, Vice Chair Vanessa Atterbeary and members of the House Judiciary Committee for moving the bill and the members who voted favorably on the House floor.
The amount of advocates for HB315 has been enormous.
I appreciate all the favorable testimony and drafting assistance, specifically from Krystal Williams and Jenny Egan of The Office of the Public Defender, Justin Nalley of ACLU, James Dold, of Human Rights for Kids, Bridge Maryland, Inc., and Jews United for Justice.
Thank you Gavin Patashnick, and Steven Kroll of the Maryland State’s Attorney Association who brought the perspective of some State’s Attorneys. Thank you to the Maryland Chiefs’ and Sheriffs’ Associations for bringing the position of some members of law enforcement. We truly worked this bill!
It would not have gotten this far without the foundation Del. Brooke Lierman laid when she sponsored the bill last session.
To Senate leadership, I urge you to acknowledge and protect the 5th and 6th Amendment rights of children under 18 and pass HB315 with haste! Remember, “We the people” includes children because children are people too!