Maryland Sentencing and Systems Reform
Maryland spends $100 million a year imprisoning drug offenders. If sentences for low-level dealers — people primarily dealing to support their own habits — were reworked, millions in correctional spending could be freed up to fund drug treatment. A recent poll showed that by almost a 7-1 ratio (73 percent to 11 percent), Maryland voters believe drug treatment is more effective at stopping people from using drugs than prison is. The state should make whatever reforms are necessary to find the resources needed to fulfill the public will on drug treatment.”
— JPI Research Director, The Baltimore Sun, Sept. 2005
Racial Disparities and Overuse of Incarceration
Maryland has a higher proportion of people going to prison for drug offenses than all-but three other states, and the cycle of addiction, treatment failure and incarceration affects thousands of people each year. While African Americans represent a third of the states’ population, 9 out of 10 people in prison for drug offense are African American. The total cost of incarcerating people in Maryland drug crimes run into the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Treatment, Not Incarceration
JPI believes that Maryland can save the millions of dollars it spends each year incarcerating drug prisoners on treatment, and other services, and provide communities with alternatives to locking people up whose main problem is an unmet treatment need. JPI has published five policy reports and conducted monthly communications activities to accelerate policy reform efforts in Maryland. Since 2002, JPI has been the principal research and communications arm for the Treatment, Not Incarceration Campaign. Partner organizations include Drug Policy Alliance and Justice Maryland.
JPI's MARYLAND RESEARCH:
Maryland's Mandatory Minimum Drug Sentencing Laws: Their Impact on Incarceration, State Resources and Communities of Color (February, 2007)
Fact Sheet: Maryland's Election Crime Ads in Context (October, 2006)
Progress and Challenges: An Analysis of Drug Treatment and Imprisonment in Maryland from 2000 to 2005
By Kevin Pranis (September, 2006)
Tipping Point: Maryland's Overuse ofIncarceration and theImpact on Public Safety
By Jason Ziedenberg & Eric Lotke, (March, 2005)
Treatment or Incarceration: National and State Findings on the Efficacy and Cost Savings of Drug Treatment Versus Imprisonment
By Doug McVay, Vincent Schiraldi, and Jason Ziedenberg, (March, 2004)
Race and Incarceration in Maryland- Racial Disparities in Maryland
by Vincent Schiraldi and Jason Ziedenberg, (June, 2004)
Cutting Correctly in Maryland
By Judith Greene & Timothy Roche (February, 2003)
MARYLAND ARTICLES:
Prison task proposal hits snag
Andrew Schotz, Herald-Mail.com, Febuary 16, 2007
"Report finds Md.'s commitment to drug rehab over prison flagging"
David Dishneau, Associated Press
September 19, 2006
"Push for Drug Rehab Over Incarceration Faltering, Study Says Poor Economy Hurt Ehrlich Initiative"
Mary Otto, Washington Post Staff Writer September 19, 2006
"Let Judges decide in drug cases" Judge Arthur L. Burrnett, The Baltimore Sun
March 16, 2006
“More rationale sentencing” Editorial, The Baltimore Sun
January 9, 2006
“Maryland drug offenders belong in treatment, not in Maryland’s prisons” January 1, 2006
“Advocates call for a review of the Sentencing Guidelines”
September 13, 2005
“Treatment, Not Prison” Editorial, The Baltimore Sun
March 17, 2005
“Mfume is a bright exception to a dismal rule” The Baltimore Sun
March 15, 2005