We’re Committed to Victims’ Families

By Raquel Guillory, Director of Communications

In Maryland, we focus on the policies that work to drive down crime, and together with the men and women of law enforcement, we’ve driven down violent crime to three-decade lows. We did this by focusing on things that work, and by identifying things that don’t work and eliminating them. The death penalty doesn’t reduce violent crime, and it’s expensive. That’s why, this session, we came together to eliminate the death penalty and replace it with life without parole.

Governor O’Malley is committed to providing assistance to victims’ families.  Our original bill called to appropriate savings starting in FY2015 to that purpose. Unfortunately, the provision didn’t make it through the legislative process. However, the Governor remains committed to providing this funding for victims’ families in FY2015.

In the interim, the Governor’s Office of Crime and Criminal Prevention, has been working with advocates to identify gaps in service needs to get families the help they need before FY2015.

Together with the advocates, GOCCP developed a survey to find those gaps. We need everyone’s input on this important initiative. Here’s a link to the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GOCCPMSBVSSurvey

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