Maryland Democrats’ bill would block defendants younger than 25 from being charged with felony murder

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Democrats in general have demonstrated a propensity to shift blame from those responsible for crime. Now Dems in Maryland are pushing a bill in the state legislature that would prevent anyone younger than 25 from being charged with felony murder.

The Youth Accountability and Safety Act was introduced into the Maryland General Assembly by Democratic Del. Charlotte Crutchfield. The proposed legislation would prevent anyone under the age of 25 at the time of offense from being convicted of first-degree murder under the state’s felony murder provisions, the Post Millennial reported. 

According to the state’s provisions, murder is classified as being in the first degree if it was committed during the perpetration or attempted perpetration of several specified crimes, such as rape, arson, robbery, burglary, carjacking, and other serious offenses, according to FOX Baltimore.

Yet with Cruchfield’s proposal, anyone younger than 25 who murders someone while trying to commit one of these other crimes couldn’t be charged with first-degree murder, an offense in Maryland that carries a potential life sentence, with or without the possibility of parole.

The bill has the support of several Democratic co-sponsors, but has become a lightning rod, with critics arguing the effects of such a proposal becoming law could be devastating, Fox News Digital reported.

“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 WBFF.

McComas is not alone in her opposition. Law enforcement officials expressed similar concerns.

“The solution is not changing the law to excuse or to make excuses for the violator,” said Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler. “The process that needs to be in place is to hold that person accountable.”

Maury Richards, a former police chief in Martinsburg, W.Va., noted, there’s “a crime wave of violence going on right now,” but “we’re hung up on whether 25-year-olds should be charged with murder.”

Advocates of the bill contend the brain is not fully developed until about the mid-20s. Therefore, violent offenders younger than 25 should not be susceptible to the greatest form of punishment that is available in the state.

Maryland Democratic Delegate Charlotte Crutchfield, right, with U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Ga. (Charlotte Crutchfield’s Twitter account)

However, Republican opponents counter that Democrats only use mental capacity when it comes to crime policies.

“Proponents of the bill say that the human brain is not fully formed in the frontal lobes until age 25,” said McComas. “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.”

It has become frequently repeated humor that anytime progressive Democrats try to manipulate the public with a new law, they give it a name that is the exact opposite of what is expected. The Youth Accountability and Safety Act is a perfect example. Most law enforcement experts do not believe it will do anything to hold youth accountable and will certainly compromise public safety. The bill is currently making its way through the state House.

Source: www.lawofficer.com