Baltimore's East Side

“We are losing our children.”

That was the grim assessment made by Elsworth Johnson-Bey, the founder of a group called the Fraternal Order of X-Offenders that is dedicated to preventing juvenile crime in Baltimore.

Baltimore’s crime problem has trickled down to affect its youngest and most vulnerable inhabitants. According to a report released in August by the Baltimore City Health Department, the juvenile homicide rate in Baltimore from 2002 to 2006 was approximately five times higher than the Maryland rate and eight times higher than the national rate.

The report also found that a vast majority of the victims and perpetrators of juvenile violence had been in contact with the Department of Social Services and that nearly half of those encounters involved allegations of abuse or neglect.

Bey summarized the problem at a panel discussion titled “Saving our Children: A Look at the Juvenile Justice System” that was hosted by the Baltimore chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Tuesday night at Union Baptist Church. The panel brought together community leaders, law enforcement officers, and government officials to discuss the issue of youth crime and what can be done to combat it.

“Kids in the child welfare system are generally viewed…as victims,” said Donald W. Devore, Maryland’s Secretary of Juvenile Services, who also served on the panel. “But when they come over to the juvenile justice system, they’re viewed as perpetrators, criminals, and they’re villainized in many ways.”

A complex problem like youth crime involves many different stakeholders and approaches, and the solutions proposed at the NAACP discussion were a reflection of that variety.

Secretary Devore praised rehabilitative models that don’t require juvenile incarceration, saying that the state Department of Juvenile Services has been successful using “intensive, in-home, family therapy-based models.” He also stressed the importance of opening up avenues of communication between government agencies that provide child services, saying that they need to work together in order to create a comprehensive approach to understanding each child’s situation and needs.

State’s Attorney Patricia Jessamy said she’s not interested in throwing kids in jail, but the current juvenile justice system is ill-prepared to spot children who might fall into a pattern of criminal behavior.

“We need some kind of violence prevention indicator, so when certain things happen in a child’s life, we take action and we do certain things,” said Jessamy.

Many attendees said that while they respect the work being done by officials within the system, they’re tired of endless discussion and talk that doesn’t seem to yield results.

Kimberly Armstrong, an advocate who lost her son to youth violence, said that the changes have to come from the bottom up, not the top down.

“I’m sick of people discussing,” said Armstrong. “The challenge is to the people in the audience. Do something.”

Sgt. Louis Hopson Sr., a 30-year veteran of the Baltimore City Police Department who has worked in the juvenile booking center, put the blame squarely on parents, especially fathers, for failing to be involved and lacking the will to discipline their kids.

“This conversation has nothing to do with white people or anybody else,” said Hopson. “It has to do with black men, because the majority of kids who come in there are young black men, and they need a man in their life to walk them through manhood.”

Greland Lowery, an ex-gang member who now devotes himself to preventing youth violence, stood up and delivered an impassioned plea for funding support. He said his status as an ex-offender makes him uniquely qualified to deal with the problem, and that people like him shouldn’t be ostracized from the cause. He compared the members of the panel to American soldiers in Iraq who didn’t understand the intricacies of warfare in an urban environment.

“I’m that urban warfare guy,” said Lowery. “Don’t push me to the side because you’re not gonna’ survive in this war.”

It’s clear that juvenile crime is a problem in Baltimore. But with a government that’s becoming increasingly strapped for cash, the fix remains elusive.

For the activists who attended the NAACP meeting on Tuesday night, their mission continues, unchanged. They will go on working to prevent more of Baltimore’s children from disappearing into the criminal justice system or an early grave.

“We cannot put the onus on government,” said Bey. “The power begins with us.”