In 2009, Maryland passed leg­is­la­tion that imposed new require­ments for pros­e­cu­tors seek­ing the death penal­ty. A recent report pre­sent­ed to the Maryland General Assembly by promi­nent attor­neys, legal experts and law pro­fes­sors ana­lyzes the 2009 law three years after its pas­sage, high­light­ing its effects on the state’s death penal­ty sys­tem. According to the report, the 2009 law exac­er­bat­ed a sig­nif­i­cant set of prob­lems with the state’s death penal­ty, includ­ing its costs, arbi­trari­ness, and impact on mur­der vic­tims’ sur­vivors. For exam­ple, while the require­ment of bio­log­i­cal or video evi­dence link­ing defen­dants to the mur­der can reduce the rate of wrong­ful con­vic­tions, the risk of exe­cut­ing an inno­cent per­son remains a seri­ous risk. Additionally, Maryland experts believe that the new evi­dence require­ments are like­ly to increase the punishment’s arbi­trary imple­men­ta­tion, since the ​“worst of the worst” defen­dants may not nec­es­sar­i­ly be the same peo­ple will be eli­gi­ble for the death penal­ty under the new require­ments. Finally, the 2009 law length­ened the cap­i­tal tri­al process, plac­ing addi­tion­al bur­dens on mur­der vic­tims’ fam­i­lies who are involved in the tri­al and increas­ing the costs of secur­ing a death sen­tence. The report con­cludes, ​“The amend­ed law can­not even achieve its intent of elim­i­nat­ing the risk of exe­cut­ing an inno­cent per­son. The law has also spawned a host of oth­er prob­lems. It has made the appli­ca­tion of the death penal­ty in Maryland more arbi­trary and irra­tional. It has fur­ther com­pli­cat­ed Maryland’s death penal­ty sys­tem, mak­ing it more bur­den­some for mur­der vic­tims’ fam­i­lies and more expen­sive to the state. It has intro­duced ambi­gu­i­ties into the law that will take years of lit­i­ga­tion to sort out.” Read full report here.

(“Maryland’s Death Penalty: Still Here, Still Unfair. More Arbitrary and Costly,” March 2012). Read more Studies on the death penalty.

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