People who have served at least 20 years of a Maryland prison sentence would qualify to ask a judge to modify their sentence under a measure the General Assembly passed Thursday.
Nicknamed the “Second Look Act,” the measure is a top priority for the Legislative Black Caucus and the Office of the Public Defender. The bill applies to people convicted of crimes they committed between the ages of 18 and 25. It builds on a law passed a few years ago that allows people convicted of crimes they committed as minors to ask a judge to change their sentence.
Sex offenders and people sentenced to life without the possibility of parole are not eligible. Senate Republicans also successfully added an amendment exempting people convicted of killing a first responder.
Before the addition of that amendment, the state Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services estimated that 656 people who are currently incarcerated would qualify to ask a judge to shorten their sentence if the measure passes. The legislation faced strong Republican opposition during debates in both chambers.
The people who could benefit from this bill “in many cases, have murdered someone, seriously harmed someone, committed extremely violent criminal acts to get to the point where they're serving more than 20 years without being released,” Senate Minority Whip Justin Ready said Thursday.
He expressed concern that the legislation will result in crime victims and their families returning to court and reliving past trauma.
However, this bill may help to address stark racial disparities in the justice system, Sen. Anthony Muse, a Prince George’s County Democrat, said during debate in the Senate Thursday.
According to the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, 72% of Maryland’s prison population are Black.
“Maryland incarcerates the highest percentage of Black people in the country,” Muse said. “And this bill is about not just rehabilitation, but taking a look at people to determine if their sentences were actually just.”
He referenced unfair and unequal treatment of Black defendants by police, prosecutors and judges in the 1970’s and ‘80s.
“Sometimes the victims are those who are actually incarcerated,” Muse said.
Baltimore County Sen. Charles Sydnor, a Democrat who sponsored the Senate version of the bill, became emotional as he told the chamber about his two cousins who were murdered in Baltimore years ago.
He said the perpetrators were never caught. But if they had been, and “if these people, whoever committed those crimes, showed that they did what they needed to do to reenter society,” he said through tears, “I'd welcome them with open arms.”
