Maryland Sentencing and Systems Reform
"Maryland spends $100 million a year imprisoning drug offenders. If sentences for low-level dealers — people primarily dealing to support their own habits — were reworked, millions in correctional spending could be freed up to fund drug treatment. A recent poll showed that by almost a 7-1 ratio (73 percent to 11 percent), Maryland voters believe drug treatment is more effective at stopping people from using drugs than prison is. The state should make whatever reforms are necessary to find the resources needed to fulfill the public will on drug treatment.” — JPI Research Director, The Baltimore Sun, Sept. 2005

Racial Disparities and Overuse of Incarceration
Maryland has a higher proportion of people going to prison for drug offenses than all-but three other states, and the cycle of addiction, treatment failure and incarceration affects thousands of people each year. While African Americans represent a third of the states’ population, 9 out of 10 people in prison for drug offense are African American. The total cost of incarcerating people in Maryland drug crimes run into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Treatment, Not Incarceration
JPI believes that Maryland can save the millions of dollars it spends each year incarcerating drug prisoners on treatment, and other services, and provide communities with alternatives to locking people up whose main problem is an unmet treatment need. JPI has published five policy reports and conducted monthly communications activities to accelerate policy reform efforts in Maryland. Since 2002, JPI has been the principal research and communications arm for the Treatment, Not Incarceration Campaign. Partner organizations include Drug Policy Alliance and Justice Maryland.

Baltimore Behind Bars: How to Reduce the Jail Population,
Save Money and Improve Public Safety
(Executive Summary, National Implications Fact Sheet & Full Report)
06-08-10
Author(s): Justice Policy Institute
Topic(s): Maryland, Public Safety, Adult Corrections, Racial Disaparity

Fact Sheet: Percent Change in Incarceration and Crime Rates - State by State 1998-2008
06-08-2010
Author(s): Justice Policy Institute
Topic(s): Adult Corrections, Public Safety

Bearing Witness: Baltimore City’s Residents Give Voice
to What’s Needed to Fix the Criminal Justice System
4/1/09
Author(s): Collaboration of organizations listed on report page.
Topic(s): Drug Policy, Adult Corrections, Maryland, Public Safety

The Release Valve: Parole in Maryland
3/5/09
Author(s): Justice Policy Institute
Topic(s): Adult Corrections, Maryland, Public Safety, Racial Disparity

Judging Maryland: Baltimore Judges on Effective Solutions to Working with Substance Abusers in the Criminal Justice System
3/4/08
Author(s): Scott Ehlers and Kevin Pranis
Topic(s): Maryland, Drug Policy

Maryland's Mandatory Minimum Drug Sentencing Laws: Their Impact on Incarceration, State Resources and Communities of Color
2/26/07
Author(s): Timothy Roche, Nastassia Walsh, and Jason Ziedenberg
Topic(s): Maryland, Adult Corrections, Drug Policy

Models for Change: Building Momentum for Juvenile Justice Reform
12/5/06
Author(s): Jason Ziedenberg
In partnership with: MacArthur Models for Change
Topic(s): Juvenile Justice, Maryland

Progress and Challenges: An Analysis of Drug Treatment and Imprisonment in Maryland from 2000 to 2005
9/1/06
Author(s): Kevin Pranis
Topic(s): Adult Corrections, Drug Policy, Maryland

Tipping Point: Maryland's Overuse of Incarceration and the Impact on Public Safety
3/1/05
Author(s): Jason Ziedenberg and Eric Lotke
Topic(s): Maryland, Adult Corrections

Treatment or Incarceration: National and State Findings on the Efficacy and Cost Savings of Drug Treatment Versus Imprisonment
1/1/04
Author(s): Doug McVay, Vincent Schiraldi and Jason Ziedenberg
Topic(s): Adult Corrections, Drug Policy, Maryland

Race and Incarceration in Maryland
10/23/03
Author(s): Vincent Schiraldi and Jason Ziedenberg
In partnership with: Commissioned by the Maryland Legislative Black Caucus
Topic(s): Adult Corrections, Maryland, Racial Disparity

Is Maryland's System of Higher Education Suffering Because of Prison Expenditures?
6/1/03
Author(s): Vincent Schiraldi
In partnership with: Building Blocks for Youth Initiative
Topic(s): Books vs. Bars, Maryland

Cutting Correctly in Maryland
2/20/03
Author(s): Judith Greene & Timothy Roche
Topic(s): Adult Corrections, Maryland

Baltimore Behind Bars: How to Reduce the Jail Population,
Save Money and Improve Public Safety
(Executive Summary, National Implications Fact Sheet & Full Report)
06-08-10
Author(s): Justice Policy Institute
Topic(s): Maryland, Public Safety, Adult Corrections, Racial Disaparity

Fact Sheet: Maryland Crime Ads in Context
10/30/06
Author(s): Justice Policy Institute
Topic(s): Maryland, Public Safety