Maryland calls moratorium on death penalty

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June 2002

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Maryland calls moratorium on death penalty
Opponents of the death penalty scored a major victory on May 9 when Governor Parris Glendening of Maryland effectively called a moratorium on the death penalty until the completion of a forthcoming study from the University of Maryland on the application of capital punishment in the state. According to the Associated Press, Glendening commissioned the study two years ago because he was concerned about racial bias in death sentencing.

The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (NCADP) lauded the decision by Governor Glendening and predicted that when state legislatures convene again for their 2003 sessions, more states will follow suit. Steven W. Hawkins, Executive Director of NCADP, said, "The momentum in the death penalty debate is now clearly on our side. The days of the death penalty—both in Maryland and across the United States—are numbered."

Attorneys for Wesley Baker, a death row inmate slated for execution the third week of May, appealed to the governor to commute his sentence to life without parole or at least postpone his execution until the study was complete and results could be evaluated. The governor granted a stay and said he would postpone all executions in the state until the completion and review of the study.

The governor's office estimates that it will take about a year for the results of the study to be evaluated and acted upon by Maryland legislature. Glendening's term as governor ends this year and he is barred from reelection due to term limits. A new governor would be free to

According to the Baltimore Sun, the governor cited statistics that lead him to issue the stay. For example, although 80 percent of murder victims in Maryland are black, over 60 percent of those on death row were convicted of murders of white victims. The governor also referred to errors revealed recently in several other state's application of the death penalty.

Maryland is the second state to declare a moratorium after Illinois began its moratorium on January 31, 2000. On May 14, Governor George Ryan of Illinois called on the legislature to act upon the recommendations of a special commission he established to study a justice system he calls "broken."

David Elliot, spokesperson for the NCADP, said that in the past year between nine and 12 states have introduced legislation to issue a moratorium on the death penalty. He said he did not know of any other state that is conducting a study similar to Maryland's. A federal study on its own application of the death penalty did not find enough evidence to conclude there was race-based bias, a conclusion Elliot called "laughable."

The NCADP congratulated activists involved in a two-day call-in campaign waged the week before Glendening's decision, including members of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty, the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Friends Service Committee, Equal Justice USA, and the Maryland Coalition Against the Death Penalty.—Tara Dix

For more information:
National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
Death Penalty Information Center
Statement of Governor Glendening
Illinois Governor's Commission on Capital Punishment

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