In spite of Republican hand-wringing, the Maryland Senate confirmed Gov. Wes Moore’s nominee to lead the Department of Juvenile Services, effectively completing his cabinet.

Vincent Schiraldi, a former commissioner of New York City’s Department of Correction, was confirmed Tuesday in a vote along party lines, making him Moore’s only nominee to be confirmed without unanimous approval.

The governor stood by Schiraldi throughout his extended confirmation process. Moore spokesman Carter Elliott said in a statement after the vote that the governor “is confident” Schiraldi is “up to the task of serving our youth and increasing confidence in Maryland’s justice system.”

The agency operates detention centers for boys and girls who break the law, as well as some of those awaiting trial, and oversees their probation. It also runs programs for children considered at risk for violating the law and oversees contractors that provide similar housing, supervision and counseling.

Schiraldi’s confirmation vote was delayed Friday after Republicans expressed concern that he focuses on rehabilitation at the expense of accountability.

He told members of the Senate Executive Nominations Committee last week that his plan for juvenile justice in Maryland includes extensive community engagement and the creation of additional educational and work opportunities for juveniles in the justice system.

That gave some lawmakers pause.

“My concern with this nomination is that it seems to be furthering the policy choices that we’ve made here that have helped to put us in this situation,” Minority Whip Justin Ready said on the Senate floor, asserting that laws the General Assembly has passed in recent years are soft on children who commit violent crimes.

Ready said Maryland is experiencing a “crisis in juvenile crime,” pointing to examples such as the killing of 16-year-old Deanta Dorsey in January at the Edmondson Village Shopping Center in Baltimore. Police have charged a 16-year-old with the homicide.

Ready said Schiraldi’s proposals lack accountability measures, calling them “all carrots and no sticks.” He “reluctantly” voted against his confirmation.

“Young people need discipline and structure,” Ready said. “And so the concern with this nomination is that we’re going to get more of the failed policies that we’ve seen.”

Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee Chair Will Smith, a Montgomery County Democrat, stood in support of Schiraldi, calling his record “sterling.”

But Smith wanted it on the record that Maryland needs accountability from the department and its new secretary.

“A lot of our reforms, and the success of those reforms, and the continued reforms we’re looking at, even this session, are contingent on the successful operation of this department,” Smith cautioned. “And this department has not been functioning the way it should.”

“You have provided vision and technocratic skill,” Smith continued. “Please, please, please, apply it to this department, because it needs the help, and our reforms in the future depend on your success.”

In a conversation with the media after the debate, Senate President Bill Ferguson agreed with Smith, saying the answer to juvenile crime is not to pass laws “and say, ‘We solved the problem,’ because that won’t do it.”

“The answer is to hold the executive agencies at every level of government accountable to doing their job every day,” Ferguson explained. “That’s really what we’re going to be focused on this year and, hopefully, something that we see a turn in momentum sooner than later.”

Moore has not announced his decision on a final position — the secretary of the Maryland State Police. Acting Secretary Lt. Col. Dalaine M. Brady is currently serving in the role.

Maryland cabinet secretaries’ annual salaries averaged $192,000 in the fiscal year that ended June 30.