2015–2021 Term Report

YEAR
FIVE
In 2019, the Conviction Integrity Unit
secured five exonerations and State’s
Attorney Mosby announced that her office
would no longer prosecute marijuana
possession as doing so has no public
safety value; is counterproductive to
limited law enforcement resources; and
disproportionately impacts communities of
color. The SAO’s policy shift is detailed in the
policy paper entitled, “Reforming A Broken
System: Rethinking The Role Of Marijuana
Prosecutions In Baltimore City.”
The new policy began a change in how the
SAO handles substance use and also led to
State’s Attorney Mosby testifying before
the U. S. House of Representatives Judiciary
Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and
Homeland Security at the “Marijuana Laws
in America: Racial Justice and the Need for
Reform” hearing. This was the first hearing
of its kind as Congress began to take an
in-depth look at the injustices of marijuana
prohibition and began discussions to initiate
federal law reform.
During her testimony, State’s Attorney
Mosby highlighted poignant data that
depicts the wide-spread inequitable and
disparate enforcement of marijuana laws on
communities of color as the cause for her
full support of federal decriminalization and
legalization of marijuana possession. She
also provided recommendations to “right
the wrongs of the past” as it pertains to
the disproportionate application of federal
cannabis laws on people of color. This bold
move would lay the foundation for the State’s
Attorney’s prosecution policy that would
come in March of 2020 during the onset of
the COVID-19 pandemic.
CONVICTION RATES
97%
FELONY
91%
GUN VIOLENCE
ENFORCEMENT
DIVISION
98%
NARCOTICS
CRIME CONTROL & PREVENTION
AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
4
COURT IN THE
COMMUNITY
EVENTS HOSTED
Topics Covered in
2019 Included:
• The SAO Marijuana Policy
• Legislative Changes
and Expungement
• Domestic Violence
and Elder Abuse
• Crime in the Community
MORE THAN
2700
55
JUNIOR STATE’S
ATTORNEYS
85%
HOMICIDE
94%
MAJOR
INVESTIGATIONS
UNIT
94%
SPECIAL
VICTIMS UNIT
YOUTH AND THEIR FAMILIES
ATTENDED THE BMORE POP-UPS.
105
STUDENTS
ENGAGED
WITH GREAT
EXPECTATIONS
89
AIM TO B’MORE PARTICIPANTS
SINCE 2015
Over 11,300 community services hours completed
by AIM To B’More participants
23ANGLE-RI Sao at a glance 2019