As Baltimore Police Officer Dante Arthur recovers from a bullet wound to the face, the city’s criminal justice leaders urged lawmakers in Annapolis Tuesday to make life tougher on gun offenders.
“There should be no good time for gun crime,” said Baltimore City State’s Attorney Patricia Jessamy, who along with Mayor Sheila Dixon, Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld and Baltimore County Police Chief James Johnson testified in front of the House of Delegates’ Judiciary Committee.
The criminal justice leaders said they wanted the committee to approve the city’s “No Good Time for Gun Crime” bill, which would cut the number of good behavior credits an inmate with a gun conviction can receive per month from 10 days to five. If passed, the bill could keep gun offenders behind bars twice as long.
“Today’s gun offenders are responsible for tomorrow’s shootings and homicides,” Dixon said.
Bealefeld cited several examples of how gun offenders continually commit crimes but are released early because of good behavior in prison — only to commit more crimes.
Johnson said he sees a similar problem in Baltimore County with repeat offenders.
“It’s not just a city issue,” Johnson said. “It’s affecting people all over the state of Maryland.”
The criminal justice leaders also said they are supporting a bill called “No Bail for Gun Offenders with Prior Gun Convictions,” which would restrict a judge’s discretion to give bail to a defendant with prior gun offenses.
The testimony was met with a generally favorable response from lawmakers, some of whom said they wanted even tougher measures passed.
Dixon has made targeting gun crime a focal point of her administration.
In her “state of the city” address delivered Monday, the mayor said she pledged to build upon reductions in homicides and nonfatal shootings posted in 2008.
Last year, Baltimore had 234 homicides — 48 fewer than the 282 in 2007, and a decrease of 18 percent. The number of killings in 2008 was the lowest in one year since 1988. Shootings dropped from 637 to 567 in last year, a drop of 11 percent from 2007.
