The number of children and teens slain in Baltimore so far this year is up 42 percent over last year's total, prompting Mayor Martin O'Malley and others to expand youth intervention programs.

As of Monday, 37 youths under the age of 18 were victims of homicide. There were 26 homicides of juveniles last year.

Juvenile slayings have surged as homicides involving victims of all ages have held steady compared with last year. The city has had 239 homicides this year, compared with 237 by this time last year.

"As we apply pressure out there through law enforcement, drug dealers are recruiting at an increasingly younger age," O'Malley said. "They just feel it's a cheaper bet to employ our teen-agers."

Also, because juveniles tend to be released to their parents' custody after an arrest, they're quickly back on the streets and in harm's way, said Maj. Laurie Zuromski of the city's homicide unit.

"Years ago, when you'd come across someone at the tender age of 12, 13, we were astonished by it," she said. "Now, we have 12-, 13-, 14-year-olds, not only carrying the drugs, but they have guns."

Five of this year's juvenile homicide victims died in a fire last month that police said was set to punish their parents, also killed, for reporting drug activity in their East Baltimore neighborhood.

Most of the city's young homicide victims are involved in the drug trade, Zuromski and others said.

"Juvenile victims that are true, true innocent victims -- there aren't that many," she said. "They're out there in the game."

In an effort to steer youths away from the drug business, O'Malley sent letters in the past two weeks to at least 200 city churches, mosques and synagogues, asking them to recruit mentors for the more than 800 city teens who appear to be headed for serious trouble.

So far, three churches have responded with 175 mentors, said Jamaal Moses, executive director of the mayor's Office of Children, Youth and Families.

"The drug dealers are doing a better job of mentoring our teen-agers than we are," O'Malley said. "We've got to out-mentor the drug dealers."

Meanwhile, police, prosecutors, educators and officials with juvenile justice and health agencies have launched a new program intended to improve the mentoring and monitoring of young, violent offenders.

Under Operation Safe Kids, a program announced in September that started last week, the officials are meeting weekly to review the status of offenders under state supervision.

The sessions are akin to the mayor's CitiStat program, which tracks the performance of city agencies. But instead of reviewing how well garbage is collected or streets are plowed, officials learn whether specific youths are attending school, observing court-ordered curfews and staying out of trouble.

"We go through kid by kid. ... Are they in at curfew? What are the issues in the family? ... So they will not be out on the streets where they are at risk to others and where they are risks to themselves," said city Health Commissioner Dr. Peter L. Beilenson, who is leading the program.

There are 12 youths in the program, but the goal is to expand to 80 by the end of the year. Officials have identified a 17-year-old who is functionally illiterate and was receiving no remedial services in city schools, Beilenson said. Officials were able to line up extra help, starting in January.

City health workers are developing plans for each youth, which could include involvement in sports activities, job training and drug treatment. They are visiting each youth's house to identify and address family problems, perhaps by referring parents to drug treatment.

Of the 12 youths in the program, all but one had addicts for one or both parents, Beilenson said.

They have come across other problems, too.

"Of the first six houses we went to, five of them didn't have heat and electricity," Beilenson said. "We went to BGE, and at least a couple have gotten services they need."