State juvenile agency: Later school hours could curb crime

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — A significant spike in juvenile crime from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on school days has led to a push by the state's juvenile justice agency to shift school start and finish times.

The department is advocating for a later opening and release to limit the amount of time kids spend unsupervised in the evening. The thinking goes, the more time teenagers are congregated in one spot, the greater chance of delinquency.

"If you think about it, especially in environments that are urban, you usually have a large number of teenagers getting released from school at the same time," said Jay Cleary, chief of staff to Sam Abed, the secretary of the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services. "Everybody is in one place, at one time.