Another day, another instance of Democrats stepping on their own messages.
Today, we’ve got word that a Maryland delegate named Charlotte Cruchfield is introducing something called “HB1180 The Youth Safety and Accountability Act.”
In Maryland, felony murder occurs when someone is killed while a felony crime, like robbery is being committed.
For example, a getaway driver hits and kills a pedestrian while fleeing the scene of a crime, they are guilty of felony murder, under current law.
Democratic Delegate Charlotte Cruchfield is looking to change that with her Youth Accountability and Safety Act, House Bill 1180.
The text (and pretext) of the bill is pretty simple. Ms Cruchfield feels African-American youths are disproportionately represented – and consequently incarcerated – for more felony crimes in the Maryland judicial system. Numbers bear that out and she delves no deeper than statistics. Her bill is an attempt to…well…not address the root causes for the preponderance of black youths convicted of these crimes. It’s more of an attempt to mitigate what happens after the convictions.
It also raises the minimum age required to be charged with first-degree murder to 25 years old.
About mitigating what happens “after the convictions”? Well, young murderers who previously would have been locked up for a significant period of time would now, if this passes, be free in 40 years or less.
“…This could allow an individual who may have committed a murder while committing another crime as a juvenile or young adult to have an opportunity to be released at a more mature age and possibly rehabilitate….”
It’s always fingers crossed on the “possibly rehabilitate” especially when there is zero data on recidivism rates, etc. Good luck to the citizens at large, basically.
The reason for the age bump-up? Democrats – including Vince Schiraldi, their new governor’s pick for head of Maryland’s Juvenile Justice Service – are embracing research that proves the frontal cortex, or judgment/reasoning center, of the brain isn’t FULLY DEVELOPED until well into a young person’s mid-20s.
A 2018 paper co-authored by Mr. Schiraldi – one of many different avenues he’s argued the same in – makes an ardent, scientifically based argument that adolescence in the 20th Century has become a prolonged exercise, and that, basically, the majority of young people are not in their right and full minds until they hit around 25 years old.
…2). There is also a growing body of research in neurobiology and psychology indicating that the cognitive skills and emotional intelligence that mark the transition from childhood to adulthood continue to develop at least into a person’s mid-20s (Giedd et al.,1999, pp. 861–863; Howell et al., 2013). Many of the traits so prominent among adolescents –notably their high susceptibility to peer pressure, marked proneness to risk-taking and impulsive behavior, and tendency to be overly motivated by reward-seeking behavior –are also prevalent among emerging adults (Bryan-Hancock & Casey, 2010; Monahan,Steinberg, Cauffman, & Mulvey, 2009). Researchers have pointed to these characteristics in regard to the proclivity of youth to engage in criminal behavior (Monahan, Steinberg,& Piquero, 2015). In distinguishing between children and adults, the United StatesSupreme Court has found these developmental markers to have constitutional significance under the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment and the Fifth Amendment’s due process protections against self-incrimination.2
Sociological research has further contributed to a better understanding of this age group. The transitional period from child to adult –that is, from an immature and emotionally, financially and practically dependent person to an independent, mature individual –has become prolonged, with people reaching such key markers as marriage, educational milestones and meaningful employment, later than in previous generations. These milestones, in turn, are protective factors that help young people,particularly young males, mature out of delinquency and into adult roles (Schiraldi,Western, & Bradner, 2015). All of this research is directly relevant to understanding system-involved youth, a significant number of whom manage to age-out out of criminal behavior by age 25; the age at which crime rates fall precipitously (Loeber, Farrington,& Petechuk, 2013; Piquero, Farrington, & Blumstein, 2003; Sampson & Laub, 2003)
Well, hang on a goll dang minute there, guys. The cold-blooded killer in this tragedy is 16. The bill sponsor and Mr. Schiraldi are basically saying this was peer pressure, bad decision-making, and/or too young to know the difference.
Baltimore Police have arrested and charged a 16-year-old with murder in connection to a shooting that killed Deanta Dorsey, 16, and injured four other teens.
Police said the 16-year-old suspect is being held at Baltimore’s Central Booking and Intake Center on first-degree murder charges after his arrest Wednesday. Police previously released surveillance photos of two masked men running from the scene of the Jan. 4 crime.
Dorsey, two 17-year-olds and two 18-year-olds were standing in a parking lot around 11:20 a.m. at the Edmondson Village Shopping Center when two shooters fired at least 20 rounds at them before running behind the building, police said. Dorsey and another victim were taken to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center.
This is also what is allowed in Maryland. Does not this health system’s webpage for its LGB-alphabet services say, “PEDIATRIC Gender Care”? Does it not offer PUBERTY BLOCKERS among other “services”?
Can a child who qualifies for “pediatric” care reasonably be expected to make an informed decision according to the Democratic definition of cognitive reasoning or is that only to be applied to youths who murder people?
You massive, loathsome hypocrites.
Note to Democrats: lopping off your breasts or chemically castrating yourself at 12 IS A LIFE SENTENCE.
They are so evilly obtuse.
…However, opponents of HB 1180, like Republican Delegate Susan McComas say Democrats are only using mental capacity when it comes to soft on crime policies.
“Proponents of the bill say that the human brain is not fully formed in the frontal lobes until age 25. 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,” said McComas.
And the GOP delegate is correct – the very same group is pressing for passage of Maryland House Bill 283, the Trans Health Equity Act. The abomination has “57 sponsors in the House of Delegates and 13 sponsors in the Senate.”
What’s in it? Basically, the ruin-a-child’s-life playbook from that gender-affirming care webpage is only then enshrined in law by having the state’s Medicaid program pay for it. Puberty blockers are on there.
What about the children who are too young to make a reasoned decision?
No worries, says the mental health lady – no knives allowed…yet.
…Margo Quinlan, the director of Youth & Older Adult Policy at the Mental Health Association of Maryland, said the bill does not change the state’s policies on medical care for transgender youth, which does not include reassignment surgery, Quinlan said.
Just pump them full of pills to do it until you can start slicing.
These kids know exactly what they want, right?
Monsters. These people are monsters.
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