OPPOSE HB 374 Dim Credits, 1st Deg. Murder

As your constituent, I am writing to urge you to give HB 374, which would  prohibit the earning of diminution credits (DIM) by  a person convicted of first-degree murder, an unfavorable report. The bill would create longer, tough-on-crime sentences with no countervailing benefit.

Diminution credits granted through educational and other programs help a cooperative prisoner earn an earlier release date. 
Here are the reasons I oppose this bill:
 - Summarizing an emerging consensus among criminal legal scholars, the 2015 final report of the Justice Reinvestment Coordinating Council found that “research demonstrates that providing incentives like earned time or diminution credits in prison can reduce recidivism and save taxpayer dollars” (16), and that “adding months or years onto prison stays has little or no impact on recidivism” (1). 

 - The existing DIM credit system already treats violent offenders more harshly than others. It drastically reduces the credits toward sentence reduction that violent offenders and drug dealers can earn in the first place.

 - The current system also allows corrections authorities to cancel part or all of a prisoner’s “good conduct” or other special DIM credits for even a single incident of bad behavior. 

 - Maryland prison sentences cost taxpayers over $40,000 per prisoner per year. More effective drug treatment, mental health treatment, and job programs with intensive community supervision will yield better results in terms of stopping drug addiction and crime, as well as saving the state money. 
 
- Removing these credits would raise the time served on Maryland prison sentences by a small percentage; it would increase Maryland prison populations and increase the age of the average incarcerated person. 

For all these reasons, I urge you to give an unfavorable report to HB 374.