Baltimore mother calls for reform in Maryland’s juvenile justice laws after losing son to gun violence

BALTIMORE (WBFF) — Michelle Hines lost her son, 16-year-old Izaiah Carter to gun violence this past March.

Although police arrested a 23-year-old suspect, Hines, still knows the reality of Baltimore’s juvenile crime issues.

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Her other children are now homeschooled because the fears of Baltimore’s violence.

Hines sat down with Fox45 to get her thoughts on Maryland’s juvenile justice laws.

“When it comes to these lawmakers, they really need to look into what is working elsewhere. The data is there. We are surrounded by states that have crime of course, but there not this high,” said Hines.

Hines takes issue with the Secretary of Juvenile Services, Vincent Schiraldi’s claim that juvenile crime is down across the state.

“The people who are here on ground level, we don’t see that, we don’t feel that, statistics show otherwise,” said Hines.

Hines also has a very interesting perspective when it comes to juveniles not being arrested for most crimes.

“We’re literally creating repeat offenders with the laws we have in place now,” said Hines.

READ ALSO | ‘Start locking these kids up,’ mom of teen offender says as frustration builds within juvenile system

And she has a direct message to Governor Wes Moore.

“If we’re just gonna look at them and say, well they’re too young to the wrong that they’ve done, that is not for Baltimore, that is not for Maryland. Because kids in this city, in this state are still committing crimes. “He needs to come up with a plan, how are we going to deal with these offenders? But the plan can’t be to just brush it under the rug,” said Hines.