This week, Ronald Weich, the dean of University of Baltimore’s Law School, published an op-ed in the Baltimore Sun, “More work to be done on Md. bail reform,” in which he discussed the injustices of Maryland’s pretrial justice system which disproportionately keeps poor and minority citizens behind bars for minor crimes they have not yet been convicted of.
He applauds Maryland’s Court of Appeals for taking a “significant step to improve our state’s criminal justice system” this week when it agreed on a rule change to prevent judges from imposing bail beyond the financial means of defendants, but also points out that, rather than rely on money bail, “judges should be equipped with evidence-based, race-neutral tools to help determine who should be held and who should be released.”
OSI-Baltimore and UB Law School’s Pretrial Justice Clinic, which is led by 2013 OSI-Baltimore Community Fellow, Zina Makar, are part of a coalition to reform cash bail in Maryland, The Coalition for a Safe and Just Maryland. See a full list of all coalition members here: https://www.safeandjustmd.org/.
The Pretrial Justice Clinic was also recently the subject of a feature in the Maryland Daily Record, “UB Law’s Pretrial Justice Clinic tackles mass incarceration.”
