House Bill 1423 is good for Maryland

Justice should be race blind. However, the available evidence suggests that Maryland’s criminal justice system is stacked against Black Marylanders. Of all the states in the Union, Maryland has the nation’s highest percentage of black people in its prisons when compared to the general population. Black Marylanders make up 30% of the state’s overall population and 71% of the incarcerated population. That’s twice the national average, and slightly higher than states such as Mississippi and Louisiana that also have soaring incarceration rates for black people.

If passed, House Bill 1423 — currently under consideration by the Maryland Legislature — will create a Commission to Review and Assess Racial Disparities in the State Justice System. The idea for such a commission was hatched by the Maryland Equitable Justice Collaborative, an historic partnership between the Office of the Attorney General, the Office of the Public Defender, and other parties, formed “to reduce the incarceration rate of Black men and other marginalized groups in Maryland prisons and jails.”

The commission will collect and analyze data to assess the proximate causes of racial inequity in Maryland’s criminal justice outcomes, and the most effective methods for redressing inequity without jeopardizing public safety. The bill outlines the key matters the commission will examine. What are the roles of different criminal justice practices — such as policing, arrests, charging, pretrial detention, sentencing, community supervisions, and prosecution, including diversion and plea policies and mandatory minimum sentencing — in perpetuating racial inequity in Maryland’s criminal justice outcomes? Do contested charging policies, such as application of the felony murder rule — whereby participants in a crime can be charged for a non-premeditated murder committed by an accomplice — disproportionately impact non-white Marylanders? How can Maryland’s justice system increase transparency? And what non-carceral alternatives and revisions to sentencing practices are recommended by the evidence?

Passing HB 1423 is a no-brainer because it enables collection of evidence to address a major problem while posing no downside. Even “tough-on-crime” advocates can feel comfortable endorsing the bill, because it is a fact-finding mission that creates no new risk to public safety. If passed, HB 1423 will be a promising step toward race blind justice in our state.

— Steven T. Gravatt, Baltimore

When will Maryland Democrats wake up?

With the upcoming elections where voters will have the chance to get rid of those who don’t work for them, assuming that our elections are not corrupt also, the question is when will Democratic lockstep voters wake up?

Just recently we have seen many, many reasons for such a wake-up call. We have seen Democrats lying about the cause of our financial problems. They blame President Donald Trump. He wasn’t in office when the state’s fiscal grade fell. He wasn’t in office when they spent a surplus into a huge debt. He didn’t act like a child in a candy store and vote in all the useless programs and hire many more people than we can afford. He didn’t count on President Joe Biden sending them more monies from a corrupt and debt-ridden federal system, even when the signs were clear that we couldn’t afford more giveaways. The Democrats did.

The signs were there. They talked big and smooth about gun safety but refused to do anything about criminal getting easy guns. They have been blind to student crime in our public school systems and to the failure of many, many schools to educate rather than brainwash. They have allowed their Democrats in office to be corrupt and protected them from any but the weakest consequences. But their lock-step voters still voted for them.

But now we have seen an execution-style murder on school grounds. We have seen students killed because they were not in school. We have seen a juvenile justice system that has allowed our youth to grow in criminal activity. It doesn’t even know who they are helping or hurting. I believe the hurting is far greater than they admit.

When will you all wake up and recognize that the Democrats are not on your side but only think of themselves and lie about all they do and don’t do?

— Michael T. Buttner, Bel Air

In appreciation of recent Sun editorial

I almost choked on my breakfast last week when I read The Baltimore Sun’s editorial ALMOST praising President Donald Trump for his actions as president, so far! What’s going on with The Sun’s illustrious editorial board? Have you finally awakened from your partisan, liberal agenda that most of the country does not agree with? I look forward to seeing more of the same in the next 4 years!

— Gail Householder, Marriottsville