BALTIMORE (WBFF) — New data from Baltimore Police is revealing a troubling trend involving juvenile crime. While overall violent crime is down across the city, carjackings involving young offenders are sharply on the rise.
Earlier this year, FOX45 News’ cameras captured police placing three juveniles in handcuffs in east Baltimore. Two 15-year-olds and a 14-year-old were charged in an armed carjacking. With prior arrests including robbery, a handgun violation, and auto theft, it was far from a first offense — and far from an isolated incident.
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According to Baltimore Police, carjackings are up 142% so far this year, with 17 reported incidents compared to just seven at the same time last year.
“It’s sad. It makes me really sad,” Julie, a victim who asked we not share her full name or show her face out of fear for her safety, said.
It makes you feel like what happened to you didn’t even matter at all.”
Julie was attacked and robbed by two teenagers alongside Patterson Park in 2023. Surveillance video captured a 12- and 15-year-old tackling her to the ground before taking her keys. The only reason they didn’t steal her car, she said, was because they didn’t know how to drive a stick shift.
“I was bruised up for a couple of weeks. I had a headache for like two days. I had bruises on my hip and my wrist. It was a pretty hard slam,” she recalled.
While she has physically recovered, Julie said the emotional toll remains.
“If someone comes up behind me or runs around a corner, I hate it. It just startles me,” she said.
And yet, she said the consequences for the teens involved in her case were fleeting — limited to community service and an apology letter, she said, she never received.
“Something has to change, because if not, it’s just going to keep happening,” she said.
“I am very disappointed, but I’m honestly not extremely surprised,” Caitlin Morrell, another victim of juvenile crime in Baltimore City, said.
Morrell said she was targeted in the same area a year earlier after her previous car had already been stolen.
It was very inconvenient to lose two cars. The one car I had just paid off,” she said.
She said while walking home one night, three teens held her at gunpoint. Ring doorbell footage from a neighbor allegedly shows one of them chasing her down the street, demanding her purse, and ultimately, running away with her keys and car.
“After the second stolen car, it was just more feeling hopeless. Anytime I was in the city, I was a lot more aware and scared,” Morrell said.
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She said police later tracked her stolen AirPods, leading them to a 15-year-old who was found with her car keys in his pocket. But, Morrell said the outcome of her case was similar to Julie’s.
“They said that he had stolen six other cars, but there wasn’t much that they could do because he was a minor,” she said. “They said he had to go to school for 60 days, but they couldn’t necessarily enforce that.”
Now, as juvenile carjackings continue to climb, both women fear the cycle won’t stop without stronger consequences.
“I think they know that they can get away with it, and so that’s why it’s continuing at such a rapid pace,” Morrell said.
“It’s a complex issue, but we shouldn’t be up 140% and it’s only April,” Julie added. “That’s not good. It’s not even warm out. Wait until school gets out, then what’s going to happen?”
Meanwhile, Baltimore Police said juvenile auto thefts are down 29% compared to this time last year. However, when it comes to the spike in carjackings, FOX45 News asked what is driving the increase and what is being done to curb it. As of the time this article was written, the department had not responded.
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