City Council discusses diminution credits

On Nov. 24, the Gaithersburg City Council hosted a discussion of the issue of diminution credits and their effect on violent crime in Maryland with Montgomery County Police Captain Mitch Cunningham, State Sen. Nancy King, and myself. Capt. Cunningham explained how Shawn Henderson, the primary suspect being held in the murder of Lindsay Harvey, was able to exploit loopholes in the criminal justice system that enabled him to gain his early release from prison, even after being convicted for committing three very violent robberies where the victims' throats were slashed.

"Many offenders take advantage of this diminution credit system," Capt. Cunningham told the council. "And as we look at a broader picture of Maryland as it compares to other states, we realize that Maryland is the 5th most violent state [in the U.S.]."

Capt. Cunningham said that states with truth in sentencing have had lower crime rates. "What we're suggesting…is that for folks convicted of a violent crime, they have to serve 85% of their sentences," he said. "That is typically known as truth in sentencing, and that is what is done in 30 other states around the country."

Capt. Cunningham added that even with this new legislation, violent offenders will remain eligible for parole after serving 50% of their sentences, as they are under current law. "Even though we're asking for 85%, parole commission will still get an opportunity to review the offender's sentence and make a judgment."

It should be noted that Shawn Henderson's bid for early release through parole was rejected by the State Parole Board, but because the diminution credits he was earning were already automatically paving the way towards his early release, he was released anyway in April 2006 -- six years after being incarcerated and four years before his sentence was up (Henderson's original sentence was 20 years, with all but 12 years suspended, plus a reconsideration that made it a 10-year sentence).

Henderson now stands accused of murdering Lindsay Harvey, who was killed on April 13, 2008 -- just two years after his release from prison. He is facing life in prison without the possibility of parole, and his trial is scheduled for Feb. 9, 2009.

"If you look at the crime rate in our area and the challenges that our police departments have to try and keep things calm in our area, they've really got their hands full, and if there's something that can help them out to do their job better, I think this is probably the least we can do," said Sen. King.

Sen. King said that while our proposed legislation has the support of other state legislators, she noted that there also a lot of defense attorneys in the legislature that will make its passage an "uphill battle."

One likely rationalization against capping diminution credits, said Sen. King, could be the fact that such credits are often used by correctional officials to get inmates "to do what they want them to do." But, she added, "there's got to be a rational point where we're not letting people out on the street that shouldn’t be there."

The dim credit legislation -- which has the full support of the Mayor and Council -- does not address the issue of sentence reconsiderations or the ability of judges to suspend sentences. When pressed about this by city councilman Ryan Speigel, Capt. Cunningham responded, "The reality is, given what we are faced with, at the [judiciary] committees that would hear this, we feel it's ambitious enough just to try to get this passed. I think there's no one who knows this issue that wouldn’t want both issues addressed, but the reality is that we need to pick our battles."

It is our belief that the criminal justice system is supposed to be protecting us from dangerous individuals like Shawn Henderson. The system in Maryland failed us in the worst way possible, by allowing a known violent offender to be released from prison long before he should have been. As a result, the life of a vibrant young woman who did nothing wrong and was loved by literally hundreds of people is now over.

Our lawmakers need to acknowledge once and for all that allowing violent offenders an easy path towards early release does not turn them into law-abiding citizens but actually endangers those of us who are. With your help, we may finally see real change in the state of Maryland.

The 2009 legislative session in Maryland begins in mid-January. Please write to your state representatives and tell them you support revamping the diminution credits system so that violent offenders can take no more than 15% of the time off their sentences.

Thank you for your support.-- David Udoff