From: "Strong, Lee" <StrongL at MTMC.ARMY.MIL>
To: "'WSFA members'" <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Good news in Maryland?
Date: Mon, 13 May 2002 08:08:30 -0400
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

	I am much more cautious about Governor Glendening's action and its
motives.  Recent actions by the state of Illinois tend to support your
analysis, but I am not aware of evidence or creditable studies in Maryland
that would support the Glendening action.
	In Illinois, there was creditable evidence that the death penalty
was not fairly administered and the Governor there rightfully suspended its
administration pending a full review of the criminal justice system.
However, that is somewhat exceptional.  Most of the studies alleging
problems with the administration of justice are political statements based
on faulty assumptions about "proper" rates of executions.  I am therefore
skeptical that Gov. Glendening is acting in the interests of justice versus
the interests of his political party.

-----Original Message-----
From: ronkean at juno.com [mailto:ronkean at juno.com]
Sent: Friday, May 10, 2002 4:37 PM
To: WSFAlist at keithlynch.net
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Good news in Maryland

On Fri, 10 May 2002 09:45:07 -0400 "Strong, Lee" <StrongL at MTMC.ARMY.MIL>
writes:
>         As was my comment.
>         On a more serious note, is Governor Glendening reacting to
> abuses of
> justice committed by his own administration?
>

I don't know what Glendening said in this case, but the general idea used
to justify the suspension in other states has been that the death penalty
falls disproportionately on the poor, minorities, the uneducated, and the
ill-advised(surprise?).  Often, the decision has been made after a blue
ribbon completes a careful study of the matter.

In MD, almost all prosecutions which result in the death penalty are
initiated by county State's Attorneys.  Those are county elected offices,
so they are not really under the state executive, though they are
supposed to cooperate with the state Attorney General.  The SAs are also
'officers of the court' and therefore subject to the criminal procedure
rules set by the Court of Appeals (MD's highest court).

Reform of the criminal justice system would mostly have to be addressed
by the legislature, and because of the gubernatorial veto power, the
governor plays an important role in lawmaking.  Also, any broad reform
effort would probably involve creating a governor-appointed commission
authorized by the legislature, which would make recommendations to the
legislature.  Since Glendening has been governor for nearly 8 years, and
an activist one at that, he could perhaps be faulted for not having done
more to improve the criminal justice system.  It's too late now for him,
because the last legislative session of his last term is already
finished.  But suspending the death penalty is probably a good interim
move.

Ron Kean