Regarding the recent letter to the editor responding to The Sun's editorial, "The right reform("Justice reform bill needed changes," March 25).
One
change grafted onto the bill is a version of Senator Zirkin's
separately introduced bill, SB 890. That bill would allow for the
expungement of all misdemeanor convictions and is opposed by the State's
Attorneys Association. The version of this bill incorporated into SB
1005 was presented on the floor of the Senate by Senator Zirkin without
any explanation and without any acknowledgment that such a change was
not one of the consensus recommendations of the Justice Reinvestment
Coordinating Council on which the rest of the bill was based. Of
particular concern is that this provision would expunge second degree
assaults, a violent crime deemed to be nonviolent in one arbitrary list
of violent crimes in one section of Maryland's laws and deemed violent
in another. Convictions for domestic violence fall under second-degree
assault. Second degree assault, a non-sexual crime, is also too often a
plea bargain down from a sexual crime. This plea bargain allows a sex
offender to avoid registering under the sex offender registry statute...
...It should be incumbent upon legislators, at the very least, to
understand and properly consider why each crime on the list was chosen
for expungement by Senator Zirkin and whether, more importantly,
expungements should even be endorsed, let alone a part of this bill.
Unfortunately, the reform bill passed the Senate with only a one
sentence description and without one question about this provision on
the floor. The General Assembly needs to remove this harmful provision before full passage of the Justice Reinvestment Act.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/readersrespond/bs-ed-reform-letter-20160329-story.html
"Unfortunately, the reform bill passed the Senate with only a one sentence description and without one question about this provision on the floor." This is the mode of operation of the legislature, but sadly it does not stop here for they inject additional loopholes at the last minute.
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