From Equal Justice Initiative, April 2, 2021
State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby has announced that her office will stop prosecuting drug possession, prostitution, trespassing, and other low-level offenses based on the success of policies enacted last year to slow the spread of Covid-19 in jails and prisons.
After the prosecutor’s office announced last March that they would not prosecute these minor charges during the pandemic, crime rates dropped in Baltimore. The State’s Attorney’s office reported that violent crime fell 20% and property crime declined 36% between March 13, 2020, and March 13, 2021. And there were 13 fewer homicides than during the previous year.
The number of people incarcerated in Baltimore City declined 18% during the same period, and 39% fewer people entered the criminal justice system compared to this time last year as prosecutors dismissed 1,423 pending cases and quashed 1,415 warrants for low-level offenses.
Comments (0)