Comprehensive Crime Bill of 2018

The criminal justice landscape in Maryland is changing fast and has become a litmus test for states around the country in dealing with their respective law enforcement concerns. It is important you keep appraised of changes in the law and utilize the assistance of a lawyer whose job it is to monitor such changes. Maryland has somewhat of a mixed record in the last few years The incarcerated person’s rate has dropped substantially indicating that legislative reforms have successfully diminished the prison population and given the context of the over-incarceration crisis in the United States this could be seen as a great victory. However, the recent spike in violent crimes in Maryland has led many to speculate that less prisoners has to lead to more violence on the streets. The violence increase is especially notable in Baltimore which has seen a ghastly upswing in shootings and murders.  Thus, Maryland lawmakers have sought to emphasize violence reduction and prevention in the last legislative session by passing a package of bills aimed at stemming and reversing the upsurge in violent crime. Some of these bills passed and others did not, but it is well-worth knowing what changes could be on the horizon for the Maryland criminal justice system.

School Safety

One of the first and most overwhelmingly successful bills put before the General Assembly was a bill, known as the Maryland Safe to Learn Act, designed to help school safety as a response to a shooting that left two high school students dead in Maryland. School safety has been a huge topic in the national discourse and many state legislators cited concerns about the possibility of more children being maimed and killed in educational facilities. The bill provides a number of guidelines and requirement to be met by educational facilities. For instance, public high schools will be required to employee a school resource officer or have an adequate plan to coordinate with law enforcement officers. Legislators have also set aside approximately $41 million in the budget to make all sorts of school safety improvements with $10 million reserved for policing school shootings. Senate President Thomas Miller stated, "People on both sides of the aisle came together to make this happen, and it's a big bill." After the bill cleared the General Assembly with strong support, it was sent to the Governor’s Office where Governor Hogan signed the bill into law.

Expungement

Law and order issues have been thrust to the forefront by advancing violent crimes rates, especially in Baltimore and thus have refueled many criminal justice debates that are happening on a national scale as well. The comprehensive bills favored by the Governor and the State Senate floundered in the House of Delegates for being too tough on crime and to the detriment of civil liberties. Thus emerged a more compromised bill than the one initially sought by those seeking to reinstitute tougher criminal justice policies. This watered-down bill contains provisions sought by both, the most important of which are the news rules regarding expungement. Expungement is a process that clears an individual’s record in the eyes of the law. This process can allow people who served their time to not be eternally haunted by the stigma of having been incarcerated. The House of Delegates included a provision that would allow those convicted of burglary, theft, and possession with intent to distribute drugs to get their record expunged after 15 years. Many civil liberty advocates hailed this decision, while other merely saw it as small token in a bad bill. A vocal minority in the legislature saw it and not going far enough. One Delegate, Jheanelle K. Wilkins (D-Montgomery), said that fifteen years is overly burdensome and that ten years would be more appropriate. However, this could change many people’s lives and is therefore a noteworthy edition to the bill.

Mandatory, Minimum, and Maximum Sentences

This bill is full of provisions that run the gamut from “tough on crime” to strengthening civil liberties, but one provision that was stripped from the bill was to double the maximum sentence of those second-time offenders caught with a firearm in commission of a related drug trafficking offense. The provision appeared in the original Senate bill and was supported by the Governor’s Office, but was stymied when reaching the House of Delegates. Many legislators cited civil liberties, over incarceration issues, and perhaps most importantly lack of evidence showing an increase in maximum sentences would have any effect on the violent crime rate. The stripping of this provision, like the above-mentioned expungement, was hailed as only a minor victory in the fight against what some legislators see as a draconian crime bill. However, the same advocates that praised stripping the maximum sentence provision criticized the bill for requiring that 10 year mandatory minimums for second-time violent offenders be served in full with no possibility of parole or suspension.

More Bipartisan Ventures

Criminal justice reform can often be a slow-moving process, but in this case Maryland has acted swiftly to address the needs of its citizens. Although there is much to disagree about in the content and provisions of the new crime bill, many legislators are focusing on the portions that are by-in-large agreeable. One example is making fentanyl illegal to distribute. This provision was met with bipartisan support and easily made its way through the vetting of the bill. Another example is increasing the criminal penalty for witness intimidation.

To Conclude

The Maryland legislature is what sets the course for criminal justice in the state. Therefore, it is paramount as a citizen of Maryland to be familiar with the activities of legislature, not only with regard to criminal justice, but all of their activities. This keeps are elected officials accountable to the people. It is also important to know your rights and to current state of the law. Criminal justice reform is of particular importance because in Maryland the pendulum swings far and often. You should be aware of what your state is doing to combat violence and promote the common good. At the Law Offices of Randolph Rice, we know the law and how it is applied. We have professionals ready, willing, and able to help you navigate this ever-changing legal environment.