And this fall, the Casey Foundation, taking note of the high detention rates, expanded its Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative to Prince George’s County. Mark Soler, executive director of the Center for Children’s Law and Policy in Washington, is leading the effort, which offers training and technical assistance to help jurisdictions reduce overreliance on locked detention and develop other ways of holding juveniles accountable. Mr. Soler and his staff have prepared an assessment of the county’s juvenile system, based on interviews with all parties, including Judge Dawson.

“We want judges to understand that the juvenile system is not the solution to all the problems of children and families,” Mr. Soler said.

Among other things, the initiative encourages the use of standardized measures that rate how likely a juvenile is to flee or commit another offense — measures that Mr. Soler said neither Judge Dawson nor prosecutors had relied on in making decisions, although they can help avoid locking up juveniles unnecessarily. Yet it is far from clear whether Judge Dawson will join the ranks of the judges who have moved away from routinely locking up young offenders.

Like most judges, he is not immune to community pressure: He said he receives letters and phone calls from crime victims and parents who urge him to be harder on young offenders.

After the appeals court issued its order in October, he began committing youths to locked settings but specifying that they could not be sent to the secure facilities available in Maryland, meaning they would go out of state and probably be incarcerated for longer. But he has now reversed most of those orders as well, he said, after public defenders and the Juvenile Services Department objected to them.

Asked if he believes some juveniles should be locked up for longer stretches, Judge Dawson said that for serious offenses like armed robbery and carjacking, they should.

“I’m not in good conscience, no matter what they say about me, going to put that child back in the community,” he said. At least one of the juveniles involved in the appeals court cases violated probation within a week of being released, he said.

“I am what I am,” Judge Dawson said. “If I don’t tell these kids to get out and get an education, for the most part, they are not getting it, and nobody seems to care.”