2316

VETOES

To the extent that sixteen and seventeen year old
youths require incarceration in a penal institution for any
length of time, the law of Maryland currently authorizes the
juvenile court to waive its jurisdiction to the criminal
court so that such youths may be tried and sentenced
precisely as if they were adults. I support the waiver of a
juvenile court's jurisdiction in proper cases, and if it is
demonstrated to my satisfaction that liberalization of the
waiver provisions are necessary for the protection of the
public, I will support such legislation- Similarly, if it
is demonstrated, to my satisfaction, that the lowering of
the juvenile court jurisdictional age is necessary for
public safety, I will endorse such measures.

In the meantime, the issue presented by House Bill 1263
is not whether hard core sixteen and seventeen year old
delinquents may be incarcerated in Prince George's County —
under present law, they clearly may and properly should be-
Rather, the serious constitutional and policy issue
presented by this measure is whether the juvenile court,
clothed in its therapeutic guise and offering youthful
respondents less than the full protections accorded criminal
defendants, properly may exercise its jurisdiction for the
purpose of imposing criminal sanctions,

Indeed, even assuming the invalidity of the serious
constitutional and policy objections which have been raised
in opposition to House Bill 1263, 2/ since the bill is
effective for fiscal year 19 80 only and since it expressly
prohibits the expenditure of state capital project funds for
the purpose of converting any part of the existing Prince
George's County Detention Center (nee County Jail) into a
juvenile detention or correctional center, the County's
inability to fund renovations of the facility in fiscal year
1980 assures that House Bill 1263 will never operate. In
short, the guaranteed absence of local funding renders the
measure a statutory illusion.

For these reasons, although I recognize House Bill 1263
as a good faith attempt to offer a novel remedy to a
significant problem, I have decided to veto the measure.

Sincerely,
Harry Hughes
Governor

1/ In particular, the report stated, "/i/t is our
conclusion, based upon the review of the legislation
and the tour of the jail that the method of housing
juveniles in this facility is currently in violation