Maryland Democrats are supporting a bill in the state assembly that would make it illegal to charge anyone under the age of 25 with felony murder.
The Youth Accountability and Safety Act, presented by Democratic Del. Charlotte Cruchfield in the Maryland General Assembly, would bar a person under the age of 25 at the time of the offense from being convicted of first-degree murder under the state’s felony murder laws.
Murder in the first degree is defined as having occurred during the commission or attempted commission of one of numerous listed crimes, including rape, arson, robbery, burglary, carjacking, and other violent acts.
However, under Cruchfield’s proposal, which has the support of several Democratic co-sponsors, anyone under the age of 25 who murders someone while attempting to commit one of these other crimes cannot be charged with first-degree murder — a crime punishable by life in prison with or without the possibility of parole in Maryland.
The bill has been a hot-button topic, with detractors claiming that if it becomes law, the consequences will be disastrous.
“If this bill passes, you’re going to have kingpins, you’re going to have gangs use juveniles to do their dirty work,” Republican Del. Susan McComas told local Fox affiliate WBFF.
VISIT OUR YOUTUBE CHANNELApparently, law enforcement felt the same way.
“The solution is not changing the law to excuse or make excuses for the violator,” Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler said. “The process that needs to be in place is to hold that person accountable.”
According to Maury Richards, a law enforcement specialist and former police chief in Martinsburg, W.Va., there is “a crime wave of violence going on right now,” but “we’re hung up on whether 25-year-olds should be charged with murder.”
WHY DO THEY WANT THIS?
Proponents of the law say that the brain does not mature until about the age of 25.
Republican opponents, on the other hand, argue that Democrats solely use mental capacity when it comes to criminal legislation.
“Proponents of the bill say that the human brain is not fully formed in the frontal lobes until age 25,” McComas added. “But yet, we’re doing other things in the general assembly, letting children vote earlier and earlier, letting them get hormone-inducing drugs to change their sex.”
And Democrats aren’t ashamed of that contradiction. They believe children, actual children, are capable of determining that they were born the wrong gender and they should be allowed to decide on gender-affirming care, up to and including drugs and surgery.
In Maryland, five cities right now allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in municipal elections. Remember, they cannot implement communism without the kids.
Another Maryland county attempting to reduce the voting age is Howard County, where the Board of Education is made up of eight members, one of whom is a student elected by their peers in grades six through eleven. Sixth-grade students are usually 11 or 12 years old.
In recent weeks, the question of age has been a hot topic in Maryland when it comes to criminal justice reform. Vincent Schiraldi, Gov. Wes Moore’s choice to lead the Juvenile Court Service, has stated that no one under the age of 21 should be exposed to the court system since the brain is not completely matured.
The Youth Accountability and Safety Act is now being debated in the state legislature.
