Criminal Justice Reform in Maryland

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Maryland has seen a steady decline in its prison population since 2011; however, its recidivism rate is still high. Starting in 2016, Maryland began making criminal justice reforms. Such reforms include:

Requiring actual criminal conviction to be reached before seized property may be forfeited so that innocent parties can’t lose their property to law enforcement (2016);
Providing free feminine hygiene products to female inmates (2018); and
“Banning-the-box”, prohibiting employers from requiring a total disclosure of applicants’ criminal records on their initial job application (2020).

Though Maryland’s prison population is declining, lawmakers still have considerable work to do to reform the system. In 2016, there was an initiative to ban mandatory minimums, but instead, Governor Larry Hogan introduced new mandatory minimum legislation in 2018. It’s time for Maryland to start being “smart-on-crime” and get rid of minimum sentencing laws and implement more reforms that reduce the incarceration and recidivism rates, improve public safety, and safe taxpayer dollars.

Identification of legislation should not be considered an endorsement of support of, or opposition to, such bills.