Maryland’s top juvenile services official said Tuesday he is staying focused on improving public safety, holding kids accountable and seeking to rehabilitate them, amid some calls for resignation after recent incidents.

Secretary Vincent Schiraldi, who has led the Department of Juvenile Services for the better part of two years under Gov. Wes Moore, said in an interview with The Baltimore Sun that the agency should have a “balanced approach” of holding kids accountable, while doing “all we can” to turn their lives around.

“[Young people] are capable of change and, in many respects, more capable than older adults because their brains aren’t fully developed, they’re not set in their ways,” Schiraldi said. “This is a really important moment to affect their life trajectory.”

The cabinet official acknowledged in the interview that there have been calls for his resignation and that some community members may feel unsafe. Schiraldi said those individuals have “every right” to speak out, and that he agrees with their desire to see fewer crimes involving young people, saying he is implementing a plan to do just that.

“I’m going to keep doing my job for as long as I have my job,” Schiraldi said.

A string of incidents this fall — including a Howard County homicide with two teenage suspects, the robbery of a 66-year-old man in Baltimore by armed people, including a 15-year-old; and the shooting of man in Towson’s Rodger’s Forge neighborhood, also involving teenagers — have cast a harsh spotlight on the agency and prompted some to say it’s time for Schiraldi to step down.

Questions have swirled around when young people accused of crimes are released back home, how schools are informed of allegations against students and the agency’s GPS home monitoring program.

The Maryland Sheriffs’ Association sent a letter Monday to Moore calling for Schiraldi’s removal, joining other voices from the Patterson Park area of Baltimore and the Senate Republican caucus of the Maryland statehouse. The sheriffs, with five abstentions, said Schiraldi’s “extreme policies” have made communities less safe.

“Law enforcement agencies throughout the state of Maryland have grown increasingly frustrated with the Department of Juvenile Services’ inability and disinterest in holding violent juvenile offenders accountable for their actions,” the letter said. “Consistently in Maryland, juveniles have been charged with serious violent crimes, only to be turned right back over to a parent or guardian, and back out on the streets to commit more crimes.”

Other groups have rallied to Schiraldi’s defense, including dozens of community organizations and advocates who signed a letter this week offering “strong support” for the juvenile services secretary and praising his “subject-matter expertise and rigorous managerial oversight” to an agency “allowed to decay.”

“Like all Maryland residents, we are troubled whenever we learn that a young person is accused of breaking the law — and we are especially concerned about the welfare of anyone who has been harmed by a young person’s actions,” the letter said. “It is precisely because of these concerns, not in spite of them, that we adamantly oppose misguided policies designed to be ‘tough’ on kids but which do not align with true accountability, the fair administration of justice, or what we know from the research actually works.”

Signatories include the Maryland Youth Justice Coalition, the ACLU of Maryland and Baltimore City Moms Demand Action.

Moore’s spokesman said in an emailed statement that the Democratic governor “understands the concerns that have been presented and believes that all of Maryland’s children deserve to grow up in a community they trust and in a home where they can thrive.”

The statement did not directly address Schiraldi, who was appointed by Moore, but said Moore had made a concerted effort to “both hold accountable and rehabilitate youth who are justice-involved.”

It went on to cite a statewide 26% decline in juvenile homicide arrests and 46% decline in nonfatal shootings of juveniles, as well as his administration’s investments in public safety.

“The governor,” the statement said, “is fully committed to working with local elected officials, law enforcement, the judiciary, and community leaders to improve public safety by holding youth accountable and rehabilitating them.”

The Department of Juvenile Services has announced some tweaks to its detention policies. At the beginning of October, officials mandated electronic monitoring for minors accused of violent crimes and detention for those facing such charges, at least until they are seen by a judge who could make a different determination.

The Maryland legislature formed a statewide Commission on Juvenile Justice Reform and Emerging Best Practices, and the agency created two new support programs designed to help families involved in the system whose children are not detained and to aid children placed on community supervision.

The changes were praised by Democratic Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, who earlier this month called them “simple, common-sense adjustments that will better serve everyone.”

Still, a steady drumbeat of criticism has dogged Schiraldi in recent weeks — part of a pattern seen in waves since the reform-minded cabinet secretary was tapped by Moore in January 2023. Though he is respected by juvenile justice reform advocates, Schiraldi’s emphasis on rehabilitation over incarceration has drawn sharp criticism from Republicans and the law enforcement community, as well as community members seeking stricter accountability.

Schiraldi says he has held tight to his belief that the juvenile services agency must prioritize rehabilitating young people, and ensuring they leave custody “in better shape than when they went in.” It’s not a choice between accountability or rehabilitation, Schiraldi said Tuesday. It’s a “both-and.”

“If we lock [youth] up and treat them like criminals, we can pretty much guarantee that they’re going to move more likely toward a criminal path,” Schiraldi said. “Sometimes they do have to be in locked custody, but we need to do all we can, even within that, to make it as rehabilitative as possible. We need to do both.”

That includes, he said, improving the state’s juvenile facilities, fixing what’s going on in young people’s communities, doing a better job of “discerning” which kids are recommended for which services or facilities, and getting feedback for future reforms.

Schiraldi said the agency already has improved compared with where he found it. When he took over, he said he found “atrophied” programs available to young people in their communities and a practice of returning millions of dollars back to the state each year rather than spending on programs to help at-risk youth. As an example, Schiraldi cited the state’s closure of its only residential substance abuse program for juveniles at a time when “juvenile substance abuse was skyrocketing.”

As secretary, Schiraldi has redirected spending toward programs such as the Thrive Academy targeting the young people most at-risk of gun violence with life-coaching, mentorship and job opportunities. It’s already having results in four pilot counties, amid a statewide expansion.

He also praised the evidence-based dialectical behavioral therapy now offered to young people in DJS residential facilities and the smaller waitlist for those residential facilities thanks in part to “pending placement” units that offer treatment in detention centers while young people await transfer.

One upcoming priority, he said, is moving toward a “restorative practices” approach to negotiating conflicts within juvenile facilities. Rather than a “correctional” approach, such as restraint or seclusion, the model might call for having a group sitdown or talk therapy, Schiraldi said. It’s not a quick transition, he said, but can have a “dramatic effect” on facility conditions.

“It really only moves at the speed of trust,” Schiraldi said. “I think sometimes when people are trying to reform things that need substantial reforms, they try to boil the ocean because it’s urgent and you want to get it all done. Sometimes you can’t get it done that way. You have to pick smaller examples to wade in on.”

An increased focus on crimes committed by young people, and what lawmakers called a “crime perception problem,” led to a series of legislative changes in the spring Maryland General Assembly session. Many of those changes go into effect Nov. 1, including expanding what charges 10- to 12-year-olds can face and automatically filing Child in Need of Services petitions for children under age 13 accused of car theft.

Since then, the state and local focus on youth crime has not abated. That’s despite, in Baltimore especially, overall declines in homicides and shootings, including involving young people.

Could that mean Schiraldi’s agency is the subject of future changes this spring?

“I think people betting on what legislators are going to do lose a lot of money, and I don’t intend to be one of them,” Schiraldi said.