How
much has it dropped?
Over incarceration has become a tent pole of national
debate in America and the Maryland experience may have a lot to contribute to
this debate. The Vera Institute of Justice collected, synthesized, and published
numbers that confirm Maryland is amongst several other states that have
seen a drop in their amount of incarcerated persons. This information comes
from individual states and the Federal Bureau of Prisons with the data
revealing that the Maryland prison system is on a downward trajectory since
2015. However, this is contrary to the experience of many other states.
Approximately twenty other states have reported a steep increase in their
number of persons in state custody. Many of these states have broken their own
all-time records for number of incarcerated persons. This data shows the vastly
different way states have been coping with the abnormally high prison
incarceration rate in the United States compared to its European counterparts.
Maryland’s
drop has been particularly noteworthy. In 2016-2017, almost 2,000 inmates exited
state custody to hopefully begin a new life. This one-year drop is the biggest
Maryland has had in a decade. Although this drop was steep, Maryland’s
incarceration rate has been dropping for several years before these more
astounding decreases. The 2016-2017 drop represents almost a 10% drop in the
Maryland prison system overall.
What
is causing the drop?
The researchers over at Vera credit the criminal
justice reforms that have taken place in Maryland for the dramatic decline.
Most notably, the researchers credit Justice
Reinvestment Act. This bill signed into law in 2016 by Governor Larry Hogan
is credited as being the most substantial and comprehensive criminal justice
reform bill in a generation. The reforms aimed to recue sentence for minor drug
crimes, improve parole/probation polices, and eliminate mandatory
minimums. The seismic shift in policy from the more “crime and punishment”
view of drug-policing has yielded dividends. As mentioned above, the
incarceration has dropped substantially. In fact, it has dropped almost double
what the legislators who wrote the bill intended. Nearly 34 other states have
followed Maryland’s lead and have or to intent to pass legislation akin to the
Justice Reinvestment Act. Another interesting portion of the bill is that it
mandates the money saved from its proposals into crime prevention.
What
motivated the new legislation?
Pew Charitable Trust and the Bureau of Justice
Assistance authored many of the reforms mandated by the Justice Reinvestment
Act. These organizations launched the Justice Reinvestment Initiative as a tool
to combat inflating prison populations. The initiative began in 2006 and has
since influenced the criminal justice reforms of over 30 states. The
cornerstone of the initiative was to convince states that these reforms were
not “soft on crime”, but in fact reinforce safety. One of the cruxes of the
report is detailing the failure the war on drugs has been and how it has contributed
to an exorbitant prison population of people that could better be served by
medical professionals. The comprehensive reports and statistics all support the
idea that money spent on criminal justice and imprisonment could be used to
benefit society better by reinvesting it into crime prevention.
The
results are not that simple
The initiative was originally hailed as an
across-the-board victory for states with the political power to enact such
reforms. However, they have recently come under fire especially in Maryland.
Critics of the initiative have accused it of being to blame for the rise in
violent crime in Maryland. 343 homicides have rocked Maryland in the past year
and have given critic the ammunition needed to chip away the legacy of Justice Reinvestment
Act. Governor Logan, the signer of the initial bill, is advocating for more
criminal justice reforms that may reverse some of the more progressive tenants
of the Justice Reinvestment Act. The sweeping crime bill is in response to the
increase in violent crime in Maryland which includes a record-breaking homicide
rate and double the recorded shootings. The future of Maryland progress remains
uncertain. The debate is a tough one. On one side, the reforms made to decrease
the prison rate have worked and allow more crime prevention work to be funded.
On the other hand, these reforms have correlated with the rise in violent
crime. Additionally, it is possible that these two trends have very little to
do with one another, but only time will show how this debate will play out.
How
are other states doing?
The decrease in Maryland’s incarceration rate has been
easily the most successful in the country, perhaps, rivaled only by the state
of Louisiana. The reasons for this are mentioned above, but it is worth noting
the experience of other states that have not been as successful. From
2016-2017, twenty states have increased the number of persons in state custody.
At the top of the list is Tennessee. The Tennessean incarceration rate jumped
6.6% resulting in approximately 1,000 more prisoners than the year before. The
runner-up is Kentucky with a 3.7% increase or just under 800 more prisoners. The
rise is attributed to an antiquated way of understanding non-violent drug
crimes. While the northeast and the west flirt with legalization of marijuana,
greater emphasis on medical attention, abolishment of mandatory minimums, and
reducing mandatory minimums, southern states have continued down the trek of
contextualizing drug crimes as worthy of incarceration. Those states continue
to wage the war on drugs (not to say that states with lower incarceration rates
have stopped the war on drugs entirely, but certainly there has been a
rollback) and in 2017 that will inevitably lead to higher volumes of prisoners.
The states in-question have been buoyed, however, by the rise in violent crimes
in Maryland. Opponents of the Justice Reinvestment initiatives proclaim their
connection to be logical and as such they are not be ashamed of their high
incarceration rate. In fact, some officials boast of their high incarceration
rates believing them to be necessary to protect their jurisdictions. The truth
of this is far from sure and the debate over incarceration continues to be an
important touchstone of state policy.
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