Maryland Law Blog

According to The Wall Street Journal, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley is pushing to ban capital punishment in the state. At a news conference in Annapolis, the Governor stated that the death penalty does not prevent violent crimes such as murder and that, in fact, the incident rates for murder in states that have capital punishment are higher.

The Governor plans to introduce a bill into the legislature for the full repeal of Maryland’s death penalty. If the bill passes, Maryland would join the five other states that have abolished the death penalty as of 2007. These states include New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Illinois, and New Mexico. The majority of the nation still practices capital punishment.

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The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released its Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report for the time period between January and June 2012 and it reveals that, as a nation, law enforcement agencies reported general increase of criminal offenses.

According to the preliminary report, law enforcement agencies nationwide reported a 1.9 percent increase in incidents of violent crime as compared to the same time period in 2011. Included within the category of “violent crime” as determined by the FBI are murder, robbery, forcible rape, and aggravated assault.

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A new law took effect with the New Year in Maryland, giving non-violent offenders the chance to decrease the amount of time they must spend under the supervision of a parole or probation officer with consistent good behavior. According to an article in The Washington Times, as much as two-thirds of supervision time may be taken off. This does not mean that the offender cuts his or her time on probation or parole, however. It only affects the time spent under supervision.

While some critics think the new law is soft on crime, supporters believe that it will not only give non-violent, low-risk offenders incentive to keep out of trouble, but will also relieve the burden on overworked parole and probation officers. The disproportionate ratio between case workers and offenders in Maryland (1:188) has been an ongoing and costly issue.

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