The Governor of Maryland recently introduced a host of forthcoming law enforcement initiatives specifically aimed at reducing violent crime in Baltimore City. Baltimore’s violent crime rate has been trending in the wrong direction for years, and is a constant source of concern for residents, visitors and those who conduct regular…
The national prison population continues to decline, and for the first time in almost fifteen years the total number of inmates dipped below 1.5 million. Last year Maryland lead the entire nation with a dramatic 10 percent reduction in prisoners, which brought the state inmate population down almost 2 thousand…
Back in March the Maryland House of Delegates passed a bill that would place legalized sports gambling in the hands of voters come November. At the time wagering on sports was effectively prohibited under federal law in almost all states, but Maryland lawmakers had expected the day to come when…
Legalizing marijuana through an amendment to the state constitution remains a possibility, but independent of this of this massive policy shift lawmakers are still working diligently to modernize marijuana laws. There have been over twenty marijuana related bills introduced by Maryland lawmakers this year, but few will end up as…
Maryland State Senators recently passed a sweeping bill that would modify a number of existing criminal laws ranging from drug dealing to gun possession, and now the bill moves on to the House for a vote later this month. The measure passed by a wide margin in the Senate, and…
This week in Annapolis lawmakers debated bill that would pave the way for the legal recreational use of marijuana in Maryland for any person over the age of 21. Senate bill 1039 proposes an amendment to the state constitution, which should signal just how serious lawmakers are about legalization becoming…
Despite rarely appearing in statistical crime reports, drunk driving is one of the most common jailable offenses committed in Maryland each year. The number of yearly statewide drunk driving arrests is in the thousands, and hundreds of these are the direct result of an accident causing death or serious injury.…
Criminal laws were at the forefront of the last few Maryland legislative sessions as lawmakers tackled highly controversial issues with prior marijuana and narcotics laws. Medical marijuana became state law just a couple years ago and now dispensaries are already selling their products to registered patients. Last year the hot…
Numerous Maryland criminal laws changed on October 1st, but no change may have more of an impact in courtrooms around the state than the new sentencing rules for technical violations of probation. In theory probation is a convenient and fair tool for a judge to punish a defendant without imposing…
Each spring the passage of new laws creates numerous headlines coming out of the State House in Annapolis, and no subject creates more buzz than criminal legislation. Marijuana has dominated the last few years of criminal legislation headlines, but this year decriminalization and medical cannabis takes a back seat to…