Maryland Public Defender Natasha Dartigue at the Oct. 25, 2023, news conference announcing the launch of the Maryland Equitable Justice Collaborative. (File photo by William J. Ford/Maryland Matters)
The Maryland Equitable Justice Collaborative in December released a list of 18 recommendations aimed at ending racial disparities in the criminal justice system, several of which were taken up by lawmakers during this legislative session.
Collaborative members were back Thursday with a new, more detailed report, just four days before the General Assembly’s cross-over date, the deadline by which a bill has to pass out of one chamber to be guaranteed consideration in the other.
Advocates said they’re back now because they know the problems will not be solved in one legislative session, and they want to make sure they get it right.
“While we worked diligently to get the 18 recommendations teed up as soon as we could, knowing that some of them will present themselves as legislation in the 2025 General Assembly, the more detailed report took a little bit more time,” said Attorney General Anthony Brown (D), the co-chair of the justice collaborative. “We wanted to make sure that we got it right.”
The other co-chair, Public Defender Natasha Dartigue, said during the online news conference with Brown on Thursday morning, that the report symbolizes “a call to action.”
“We as individuals, we as the collaborative, cannot do it alone,” Dartigue said. “We must all come together. The report is a comprehensive roadmap to how we can achieve a more equitable Maryland.”
The 111-page report, originally scheduled for release in January, reiterates many of the problems cited previously. While Blacks account for about 30% of the state’s population, they represent almost 44% of drivers pulled over for secondary vehicle problems, and they make up 71% of the state’s prison population. Blacks accounted for about 77% of state inmates who served 20 or more years, the report said.
Dartigue said several of the recommendations that require legislative action have been taken up, with varying levels of success as the General Assembly enters its last three weeks.
One recommendation in the report became the Second Look Act, sponsored by Baltimore Democrats Sen. Charles Sydnor III and Del. Cheryl Pasteur.
Their bills would let incarcerated individuals petition to have their sentences reduced once they have served at least 20 years. The petition, filed in the circuit court where they were originally sentenced, could be approved by the court if the judge determines that person is no longer considered a danger to the public.
There were several hours of sometimes emotional testimony for and against the measures when they were heard in the respective Senate and House committees.
Support for Second Look was part of a historic meeting earlier this week when six legislative caucuses convened as a group for the first time. But neither bill had received a vote as of Wednesday.
Another report recommendation taken up by some lawmakers request the state to end non-safety-related traffic stops.
Sydnor also sponsors of Senate Bill 292 that would reclassify some primary traffic offenses — such as tinted windows, failure to illuminate a license plate and driving without a mirror or with obstructed or damaged mirrors — as secondary offenses. A driver can still be cited for a secondary offense, but cannot be pulled over unless there was another, primary violation allowing for the stop.
A Jan. 28 hearing before the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on Sydnor’s bill lasted more than two hours. A House version of the traffic stop bill, sponsored by Del. N. Scott Phillips (D-Baltimore County), was heard before the Judiciary Committee on Feb. 12.
As of Wednesday, neither committee had voted on those bills.
At least one collaborative-recommended measure, Senate Bill 181, sponsored by Sen. Shelly Hettleman (D-Baltimore County), received final approval in the Senate on Thursday afternoon. The 36-10 vote on the measure, which garnered support from three Republicans, now heads to the House of Delegates.
It is the fourth year Hettleman has sponsored bills to reform the parole process for medical and age reasons.
“I’m just thrilled that this body passed this. It’s been a long time coming,” Hettleman said after the Senate session where the bill passed. “It is important to be able to realize that people change.”
The bill was amended last week to raise the age when incarcerated individuals can seek parole from age 60 to 65. In addition, the time served was increased from 15 years to 20, and a five-year pause was added between petitions.
During a hearing on the Senate bill in January, Maryland Parole Commission Chair Ernest Eley Jr. said the current parole structure has permitted one person to be released on geriatric parole in the last 10 years.
Also on Thursday evening, the House gave preliminary approval to House Bill 1123, sponsored by Dels. J. Sandy Bartlett (D-Anne Arundel) and Lorig Charkoudian (D-Montgomery).
After the House Judiciary Committee recommended approval Wednesday evening on the bill, Bartlett said that House Bill 190 got rolled into HB 1123, which removes the governor from the medical parole process. There are a few differences from the Senate bill in the House measure, which says a person must be age 60 to petition for parole and must way three years between petitions.
“It’s just a matter of coming to an agreement on that, and we’ll probably have to do that in conference,” Bartlett, vice chair of the Judiciary Committee, said Wednesday. “We can totally reach a compromise because we’re so close.”
The collaborative’s report notes it cost $202 million in fiscal 2023 for the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services to provide medical care for people in state prisons.
All the recommendations in the report are broken down based on the collaborative’s seven work groups:
- Criminal law and sentencing reform;
- Education, workforce development and economic opportunity;
- Health and human services;
- Law enforcement policies and practices;
- Prison, jail and detention facility reform;
- Promoting successful reentry and preventing reincarceration; and
- Youth justice reform.
The report summarizes other recommendations, including calls for the Department of Education to keep track of data on school-based arrests with information on race, gender and disability status; to pass legislation mandating the implementation of non-policing crisis response systems in all jurisdictions; and to mandate that police officers take “cognitive behavioral theory training programs.”
“We recognize that the problem that we’re addressing is not years or even decades in the making. These are centuries-old problems,” Brown said. “While there’s a sense of urgency, there’s no expectation that the problem is going to be solved in 2025 or even 2026, but the commitment needs to be to addressing the recommendations.”