IT TOOK cajoling, jawboning, and old-fashioned political muscling, but Baltimore's criminal-justice officials are finally working together to deal with backlogged courts, jammed lockups and frequent case postponements.
In two controversial breakthroughs, judges have agreed to begin hearing cases in the Central Booking and Intake Center's built-in courtroom later this week. Early resolution of cases should alleviate overcrowding problems at that lockup and reduce court backlogs. Additionally, a protracted city hiring freeze affecting the State's Attorney's Office has been lifted. With added staff, prosecutors will begin filtering out flimsy arrests by police starting Wednesday.
These two changes represent tremendous progress, considering the jurisdictional hurdles and fiercely guarded traditions that had to be overcome. But they are not enough to solve the problems plaguing Baltimore's criminal justice system.
Now a framework must be created to assure continuing cooperation among various courts and law-enforcement agencies. Strict reform timetables must be set. And attentive evaluation is needed to gauge the effect of these reforms on Baltimore's stubbornly high number of homicides. Even as killings continued to decline in many other cities, the local murder rate exceeded 300 last year for the ninth consecutive time.
The new criminal justice coordinating council, under Circuit Judge David B. Mitchell's chairmanship, has emerged as a vehicle to initiate change and implement long-term plans that can avert future crises. Against high odds, this voluntary body has proved its ability to make a difference -- after just two meetings.
The council's effectiveness was in doubt as recently as Wednesday, when Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke started a council meeting by arguing "there is no legal standing for this body to mandate change." State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy then marshaled reasons why she could not quickly take over charging of criminals from police. City administrative Judge Keith Mathews explained why the District Court could not start using an existing courtroom at central booking: additional computer wiring was needed and would take 30 days to install.
Fortunately, Del. Peter Franchot realized that this stubborn bureaucracy would not move quickly on its own. He pressed for urgent implementation of reforms. Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend also asked court officials for clear deadlines. She suggested St. Patrick's Day would be a good date for the central booking court to start operating and for prosecutors to assume the job of charging arrestees. "You need to show the governor and legislators some action," she insisted.
Because of the rush, changes will come in small steps, beginning Wednesday. The court at central booking will operate only twice a week. The State's Attorney's Office will not take over full charging. The office still wants a clearer definition of its legal authority and more prosecutors so it can staff central booking around the clock, seven days a week.
The momentum propelling reform is tenuous and could be lost without follow-through. Most immediately, two things are needed: An outside facilitator, a respected lawyer well versed in Maryland jurisprudence, is essential to monitor cooperation among the various criminal justice agencies -- the courts, the state's attorney, police, public defender and the corrections bureaucracy. Such a person can act as an adviser on such technical questions as whether a seven-day court is needed at central booking.
As elected representatives of the public, members of the General Assembly must be informed about the pace of reforms by the council. Although many judges view such enforced accountability as a violation of the separation of powers, the General Assembly controls the state's purse strings. Only legislators can speed up changes by allocating additional resources for Baltimore's underfunded courts, prosecutors and public defenders.
Court of Appeals Chief Judge Robert M. Bell was right in saying that the problems of Baltimore's criminal-justice system "cannot be solved without all entities on board." Now that the agencies are working together, they must devise long-term strategies that ensure the hard-fought changes pay off -- by easing this crisis and guaranteeing it will not be repeated.