ANNAPOLIS — Maryland Governor Wes Moore signed the Youth Charging Reform Act into law in Annapolis, ending the automatic charging of juveniles as adults for most crimes. The legislation eliminates the practice of automatically prosecuting teenagers under 18 as adults across a wide range of offenses.

Under the new law, juveniles can still be charged as adults in cases of first-degree murder and rape. For all other crimes, cases involving minors will remain in the juvenile justice system unless a judge determines otherwise through a formal waiver process.

"Here in Maryland, we charge more children as adults than every other state, other than Alabama. This bill will change that," said Maryland General Assembly Senate President Bill Ferguson. "In some instances, Maryland charged 14-year-olds as adults, for cases, that almost always, almost always, ended back into the juvenile court anyway."

"The legislation will keep cases in the right court from the start, which actually, and by the data, makes us safer and is better for those young people," Ferguson said.

The law faced opposition from some law enforcement leaders. Ivan Bates, president of the Maryland State’s Attorneys Association, testified against the bill during legislative deliberations. In a written statement, he warned that violent juvenile crime is increasing and criticized the state’s juvenile services agency as unprepared. "Violent juvenile crime continues to grow out of control because the Department of Juvenile Services is ill-equipped to handle these young, violent repeat offenders," Bates wrote. "Sending these violent offenders back to the juvenile system and giving them a timeout is not the answer to such egregiously violent crimes," he said.