Maryland’s legislative session is short – only 90 days. And we are over halfway through. One important deadline looms: the Committee Reporting Date, March 16 – next Tuesday. On this date, bills that have been heard by committees but not voted on will be effectively dead.
MAJR supports several important pieces of legislation that are in danger of not making it out of committee. We need your help in asking the Speaker of the House, and the Chairmen of key committees to schedule a vote on these bills before next Tuesday!
HB0385 – Juvenile Felony Murder
Felony murder should be limited to “principals in the first degree” (primarily perpetrators), sentences for those convicted under the old law should be able to be modified, and Maryland needs a taskforce to study Felony Murder in general.
HB0089 – Diminution Credits for Education
In recent years, Maryland law diluted “diminution credits” with equal time off sentences for any “assigned tasks” (which could be sweeping the floor), regardless of their potentially minimal value towards rehabilitation. Education and employment both have been proven to have a good effect in reducing recidivism. This bill restores incentives for both education and employment accomplishments, both proven to reduce recidivism.
HB0102 – Inmate Earnings
Access to marketable job training for all prisoners is long overdue. Maryland Correctional Enterprises (MCE) which has been key in training, serves only about 10% of the prisoner population. Yet, nearly all returning citizens would benefit immensely from such training.
HB0131 – Restrictive housing/step down
Transition from solitary back into the institution’s general population is a process worthy of planning and careful orchestration. No one should ever be released directly from restrictive housing back into the community.
HB1187 – Juvenile Justice Reform
This bill would use the Justice Reinvestment model to transform our State’s juvenile justice system, to reduce its overuse of confinement, and to make better use of restorative techniques.
Click on this link to send a message to the Chairman of the House Judiciary committee.
