The number of teens killed by gun violence while under the state’s supervision dropped by half in 2024, according to a new report from the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services, even as the number of youths under the agency’s watch increased.

The report accounts for children under DJS supervision who were killed by gunfire, shot or who had been accused of shooting others.

Through November, four teens under juvenile services supervision died from gun violence and 16 survived gunshot wounds, a 25% drop over the same time last year, according to the report. This is down from eight homicides and 20 nonfatal gunshot wounds through November of 2023.

Thirty-one teens under supervision were accused of shooting someone this year, an increase of two from the prior year. The agency supervised 11% more youths in 2024, according to the report.

A spokesperson for the agency called the report “encouraging” but said that “zero is the only appropriate number” for shootings involving teens and others.

Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates said he was pleased to see the decline but said no youth under juvenile services supervision should be accused of gun violence.

“If that number is not zero, it indicates a problem that must be addressed,” Bates said in a statement.

A spokesperson for Baltimore Police said the agency supports efforts to reduce the number of young victims, lower recidivism rates and increase public safety.

“Collaborative strategies that prioritize prevention, intervention, and accountability are critical to ensuring safer communities for all,” Lindsey Eldridge wrote in a statement.

Gun violence is the leading cause of death of children in the U.S. and disproportionately affects Black youth, according to a Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions study. And children who have contact with the criminal justice system are 23 times more likely to die by gun violence.

The decrease should be celebrated, but Maryland officials still have more to do to prevent youth gun violence, said Alex Piquero, a criminal justice researcher and former director of the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics.

The population of youth injured or killed by gun violence remains small, but significant, Piquero said, because these are children’s lives.

“That’s four less kids who have been killed,” he said.

About 90% of those suspected of shooting someone while under juvenile services supervision were at least 16 years old, and the largest number, 12, came from Baltimore. Seven lived in Prince George’s County.

Five nonfatal shooting victims lived in Baltimore, and three each came from Montgomery and Prince George’s counties.

Rates of adult and youth crime typically trend up and down together, and youth crime is historically a fraction of crime overall.

The decline in youth homicides of children under juvenile services’ supervision comes as homicides decline in Baltimore more broadly, and a little over a year after the state began a gun violence diversion program for at-risk youth called Thrive Academy.

The nascent state program works with children most at risk for committing or becoming victims of gun violence and so far has served more than 100 children from Baltimore, Prince George’s and Anne Arundel counties.

Eighty percent of participants have so far not been rearrested on a gun possession charge since entering the program, and less than 2% have been the victim of nonfatal gunshot wound.

Children are matched with a life coach, who has had similar lived experiences, and a specially trained juvenile services case manager. Both work with the child and their family to interrupt the root causes of violence and redirect their life path.

This may require a tailored solution for each child. Support for one teen could mean trauma therapy, vocational training and a stipend, while another teen facing the threat of gun violence may require relocation to another city to keep them safe.

The department didn’t credit Thrive for the decline, but the program’s efficacy is being independently assessed and measured by the University of Pennsylvania Crime and Justice Policy Lab, according to the report.

Evidence-based programs like Thrive Academy are “certainly not hurting and probably helping,” Piquero said, but there’s not enough data to determine its impact.