While serving on the Maryland Judiciary for over 20 years, Baltimore Judge Karen C. Friedman said she made it her mission to not let those she served fail, particularly defendants.

Her approach to considering cases involved setting up shop in court: She displayed brochures on drug treatment programs, mental health services, and GED programs on a rotating stand she selected from the bench. She invited local service providers to hear cases, often seating them in the jury box. Available conference rooms were used so defendants appearing before her could learn about programs that would help them not re-offend.

She calls it therapeutic jurisprudence. She said she wanted “her people,” the defendants, to have a shot at success — whether they were facing her for the first time or the sixth.

Friedman served as a judge on the Orphans Court of Baltimore City between 2001 and 2010. Gov. Martin O’Malley appointed her as a district court judge on the 1st District Court. She later served as a judge on the 8th Judicial Circuit for Baltimore City and served on the drug treatment court for about four years.

Friedman, the grandchild of a Holocaust survivor, also has the distinction of being the first female Orthodox Jewish judge in Maryland. She said her religion plays a big role in her thinking about defendants.

“Throwing someone in prison is the easiest thing you could do, but actually investing yourself in their success is a lot of work,” Friedman said in an interview with The Baltimore Sun.

It’s a philosophy that caught the attention of the Biden administration and landed her in a newly created role on the federal level. In January 2022, Biden appointed her to lead the Criminal Justice Innovation, Development, and Engagement Office at the Department of Justice. So she hung up her black robe, left her gavel in the courtroom, and set off for Washington — and the rest of the country.

That job comes to an end in January with the new Trump administration.

U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer, a Democrat serving Maryland’s 5th District, said Friedman’s approach would serve well nationally.

“I have known Judge Friedman for over 30 years and seen the success of her creative approach to her criminal dockets,” Hoyer said in a statement. “She strives to identify and address the underlying challenges facing these individuals in a nuanced way that best reduces recidivism and improves public safety. I knew that someone with her expertise, insight, and compassion would be a tremendous asset to the administration and its effort to make our criminal justice system more equitable and more effective.”

Friedman said 95% of people who are incarcerated today will reenter into society at some point. She believes if someone is sentenced to 10 years, and for 10 years they are treated subhuman when they come out, they will treat others the same way.

“How do you want that individual coming back to your community,” she said. “It’s not a bleeding heart liberal position. This is a public safety position.”

A sheriff in North Carolina who Friedman worked with hopes the Trump administration will have the same vision.

“There are a few people that have really impressed me at that level,” said Sheriff Garry McFadden of the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office in Charlotte. “I’ve never seen anybody so in tune. She is making sure that we have the necessary resources in our justice system to help the defendants inside of our citizen centers.”

McFadden said Friedman helped his office get a grant for job readiness and career development reentry programs for former prisoners.

“We’re always looking for funding to help citizens return to society better than they left,” McFadden said. “Will the next administration understand that?”

New Orleans Criminal District Court Judge Angel S. Harris credited Friedman with helping her jurisdiction create a program, “Rise After Release,” that helps with housing, employment and counseling services for inmates 45 years or older, who served 20 or more years.

“Without the grant, we wouldn’t have been able to set up the program,” Harris said. “I think she is amazing.”

In May, Friedman hosted dozens of judges in D.C. for a first-of-its-kind conference, promoting the therapeutic jurisprudence style she practiced.

“Judges are a difficult group to access, and they’re generally very isolated,” Friedman said. “Not everyone agrees on how dockets should be handled and what level of involvement judges should have with the defendants that come in front of them.”

Friedman said the two largest contingencies came from New York and Texas. There was also fair representation from other Republican states, including Louisiana, North Dakota and Tennessee.

January 20 will be Friedman’s last day in her role with the Biden Administration. She said it has been “an honor of a lifetime” to be able to do this work.

She doesn’t know what comes next.

“I don’t know what that looks like yet, but I hope to stay in the fight and really try to help people who can’t help themselves, most of the time,” she said.

Have a news tip? Contact Glynis Kazanjian at gkazanjian@baltsun.com.