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Recent Articles from Editorial Advisory Board
There’s a downside to our reliance on plea bargains
The American Bar Association’s 2023 Plea Bargain Task Force Report communicates there are many benefits of plea bargaining in the criminal justice system, including the preservation of resources and a mechanism to induce defendants to cooperate and to accept responsibility for their actions. As well, plea bargains can be used to avoid some of the […]
Maryland tax sale process must change to stop harming Black residents
We encourage Maryland legislators to take a close look at the tax sale process.
Restitution orders should include attorney’s fees
Attorney’s fees often finish last, although we have a hard time understanding why. Defendants don’t want to agree to pay them, and courts don’t like to award them. When courts do award fees, they are often pared back. Recently, the Appellate Court of Maryland ruled that a person convicted of a crime and ordered to […]
As bar counsel, Lydia Lawless served the state superbly
On March 17, Lydia E. Lawless will step down as Maryland Bar Counsel after having served in that post since 2017. We wish Lawless much success in whatever her next professional endeavor may be. We have no doubt that any future undertaking will be highly successful, given her stellar career achievements to date. The current […]
Baltimore City needs to support the state’s attorney’s office
Some in the know say that the outgoing Baltimore state’s attorney provided to the incoming, newly elected state’s attorney very little in the way of transition, particularly an office adequately staffed with a sufficient number of seasoned prosecutors who can effectively prosecute the city’s large criminal docket and engage in efforts to prevent violent crime. […]
We’ve lost confidence in the US Supreme Court
Although we have confidence in the integrity of the Supreme Court of Maryland, sadly, we no longer have the same confidence in the integrity of our nation’s high court. There is much blame to go around, but most of it lies at the feet of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. The latest episode in […]
Amend Maryland’s probation before judgment law
During the 2022 General Assembly session, we urged passage of House Bill 559/Senate Bill 265, to broaden the scope of the current Probation Before Judgment (PBJ) law. The bill had broad support, was favorably passed in both chambers, but unfortunately perished in the waning moments of the legislative session. The bill is back this session, […]
State’s Attorney Bates should keep these 2 units
Early last week Ivan Bates was sworn in as the new state’s attorney in Baltimore City. His first announced change to the office once headed by Marilyn Mosby was to do away with his predecessor’s policy of not prosecuting low-level criminal offenses, such as marijuana possession and prostitution. Bates has made clear that prosecuting these […]
Editorial Advisory Board: News organizations need to get involved in rule discussion
On Jan. 6, 2023, the Supreme Court of Maryland unanimously referred a proposed rule on the distribution and broadcast of official criminal trial audio recordings back to the Maryland Judiciary Rules Committee for further consideration. We applaud that decision, which reflected the recommendation of the committee chair, Alan Wilner, and we urge the news media […]
Editorial Advisory Board: Allow citation of unreported opinions
On Dec. 14, 2022, the names of Maryland’s appellate courts changed pursuant to a constitutional amendment approved by Maryland’s voters in the 2022 General Election. However, one vestige of the past that should be changed remains with respect to Maryland’s appellate courts — the citation of unreported opinions. Maryland Rule 1-104 prohibits the citation of […]
Editorial Advisory Board: When guns harm democracy
The Supreme Court in District of Columbia v. Heller considered the Second Amendment to be an offshoot of Anglo-American common law. And as such, Heller made clear that the government had the authority to regulate weapons; the right to keep and bear arms was subject to what it referred to as longstanding prohibitions, holding, “like […]
Editorial Advisory Board: Mayor Scott did the right thing
We’d like to put our faith in a government that is doing what’s best for us, or in our best interest; public administrators — politicians — are ethically bound to protect the public interest. We like to think that our elected representatives serve the people and not themselves, that they bring morality to our government. […]
