Maryland legislature passes bill banning registered juvenile sex offenders from schools

Annapolis, Md. (WBFF) — Certain juveniles sex offenders will no longer be allowed to attend Maryland public schools in person. Legislation that just passed in Annapolis aims to make school safer following an alarming Fox45 News investigation.

“I'm really pleased with the final product. I think it's the right thing that protects students in schools and makes sure that everybody's rights are protected,” said Senate President Bill Ferguson who promised to get the bill passed.

It took just 72 days for Maryland lawmakers to fulfill that promise.

“It did happen quick,” said Delegate Nino Mangione. “It was a shocking story that you guys did a great job with, and it proves that we can be bipartisan. We can come together and get important things done when need be.”

In the first week of April, just days before the end of this year’s legislative session, Maryland’s House and Senate overwhelmingly passed House Bill 814, known as the Juvenile Reform Bill. The legislation, which modifies Maryland’s juvenile crime laws, includes an amendment that bans juveniles, who are on the Juvenile Sex Offender Registry, from attending schools in-person. This applies to all Maryland schools that receive public funding.

ALSO READ | Mother of juvenile rape victim silenced by court after speaking with Project Baltimore

The amendment was drafted, introduced, debated and passed following a Project Baltimore report that aired in January. The investigation found a 15-year-old on probation for a second-degree rape in Harford County was attending Patterson High School in Baltimore City. The same teen was also charged in connection with a second alleged rape in Baltimore County.

Project Baltimore spoke to the mothers of both victims, who we agreed not to identify. At the time, they were outraged that a juvenile sex offender was legally allowed to attend a public school with other students.

“I think the law needs to change when it comes to juvenile offenders,” said the mother of the Harford County victim in January.

Maryland law prohibits convicted sex offenders who are on the adult sex offender registry from attending public schools in person, but the law did not apply to minors on the juvenile sex offender registry.

Now, with the new legislation passed, school systems must provide alternative means of education, such as virtual learning, for registered adult and juvenile sex offenders.

The legislation was fast tracked through Annapolis, but the idea of banning juvenile sex offenders from schools was challenged. The ACLU of Maryland, Disability Rights Maryland and the Maryland Office of the Public Defender all opposed the bill, which created heated debate.

“What you all are up here saying is if a child, let’s say a ninth grader, rapes or commits some sort of felony that they should then be allowed to go back into the school building with other children?” Baltimore City Delegate Dayla Attar said during a hearing last month.

ALSO READ | Juvenile rapist attending Baltimore high school charged in second rape case

Critics called the legislation unconstitutional, but last month, Maryland’s Attorney General found barring juvenile rapists from in-person learning does not violate a juvenile’s due process rights and is “constitutional”.

When the juvenile reform law passed, it garnered a lot of public reaction, but not from the two mothers. Project Baltimore was unable to speak with them because both have been placed under an order controlling conduct, essentially a gag order. If they speak with Project Baltimore about the case, the court could impose penalties. But it’s because of these mothers coming forward in January, that the law was passed in April.

While Fox45 News has not spoken with the two mothers, Senator Johnny Ray Salling has. He tells Project Baltimore their first goal was to pass this bill. Now, he says, the mothers plan to make the law even stronger next legislative session by working to expand the number of criminal offenses that would prohibit juvenile offenders from attending public school in-person.

“They were happy,” Salling told Project Baltimore. “But they were like in a place where you can say, can we do more?”

There is one final step that needs to happen before this bill officially becomes law. Governor Wes Moore will have to sign it, which he has indicated that he will. It would then take effect this fall.