State's Attorney Ivan Bates talks biggest challenge of 2023

By: Brittney Verner

State's Attorney Ivan Bates says his office exceeded goals for 2023 but still faced challenges prosecuting minors. He says having effective and efficient prosecutors starts with having a full house of attorneys focused and supported within. READ MORE: https://www.wmar2news.com/local/states-attorney-ivan-bates-talks-biggest-challenge-of-2023

BALTIMORE — State's Attorney Ivan Bates says his office exceeded goals for 2023 but still faced challenges prosecuting minors.

He says having effective and efficient prosecutors starts with having a full house of attorneys focused and supported within.

"When we started it was about 134 prosecutors; now we've jumped up to about 170 something.”

This helps them be more equipped to prosecute people for violent crimes, especially as it relates to homicides.

Last year, the homicide division gained 93 guilty rulings, 24 losses, and around 15 "nolle prosequi" decisions, meaning their office no longer charged people with original offenses,

"This year, we're already at 136 guilty, 20 losses and I think 13 'nolle prosequi' [decisions]. There are now that many more individuals being held accountable for taking the life of another individual," he said.

In the summer of 2023, they rolled out a citation docket. This is where officers began citing people for low-level, quality-of-life offenses.

The State's Attorney’s office also spearheaded legislation holding people accountable for gun laws, "It used to be if you had an illegal handgun, [and] you were 18 to 21, you receive five years; 21 and above, the penalty was three. Now the penalty for everything is five years."

Those are just a few of the accomplishments as they begin to prepare the legislative agenda for 2024, largely centered around challenges with prosecuting minors.

"The face of crime is changing quickly, time and time again; the juvenile issue has been difficult. We haven't been very good at understanding and pivoting to focus on the youth crime on our end."

Bates said the Juvenile Justice Act laws changed in 2022, sending certain crimes straight to the Department of Juvenile Services before making their way to the State's Attorney’s office.

“Attempted robbery, because that’s a misdemeanor, as well as any of the car theft cases, those cases automatically go to DJS. No longer should this go straight to DJS. Let’s let some of the more serious cases, let’s let them go straight to a juvenile magistrate,” Bates said.

WMAR-2 News asked Bates what needs to change at a state level when it comes to prosecuting juvenile crime.

"One, to have a juvenile magistrate deal with misdemeanors such as 'wear-carry-transport,' assault behavior-type cases, as well as any auto cases. We also need to extend the period of probation for young people to make it mirror the time period of the program they're in. When they complete the program successfully, then they should be able to get off the supervised release. Lastly, the Juvenile Interrogation Act, I think that needs to change.”

The Juvenile Interrogation Act states when a child is in police custody during interrogation, two things must happen. A child’s parent must be notified immediately (which Bates agrees with), but the law also mandates they call a hotline for a public defender if they don’t have a lawyer. Bates says that needs to change.

He said: "We understand the purposes and intention, but could you please just have the attorney be there sitting right next to that child.”

While he agrees young people need to be held accountable for the crimes they commit, he fully promotes programs to help limit recidivism.

"Once you paid your debt to society, once you've been held accountable, what can we do to help you be in a position so that you don't ever have to go back to a life of crime? Those are things we're trying to think outside the box with."

Next year, the State's Attorney’s office plans to get out into the community more, while partnering with others to follow some of the programs they’ve set out.