NEWS
By Justin Fenton | April 20, 2009
Last year, Baltimore police decided to pursue a potentially wince-inducing task: asking victims of crime if they thought the department was doing a good job. The results may surprise some: A majority of crime victims - 63 percent - were satisfied with the police response to their emergency calls. But most were frustrated with the follow-up, and nearly half said they plan to move out of their neighborhood in the near future, according to results of a survey conducted by the Baltimore Police Department.
NEWS
By Josh Mitchell | April 29, 2008
A convicted armed robber and drug dealer who received $42,000 in help from a state fund that assists crime victims failed to appear at a court hearing yesterday in Baltimore, prompting a warrant for his arrest. Deandra M. Gaskins, 31, of South Baltimore was scheduled to appear in Baltimore District Court on a charge of marijuana possession stemming from an arrest in February. The warrant, issued by Judge Charles A. Chiapparelli, was the third issued for Gaskins this month. Warrants also were issued after he failed to show up at a hearing on an alleged probation violation and at a trial on drug charges, court records show.
NEWS
By Tyeesha Dixon | April 20, 2008
Tears rolled down Thelma Watts' face as she watched the flame of a lavender votive candle flicker inside the glass holder she held in her hands. The flame represented just a small way to commemorate the life of her son, Anthony Owens-Smith, who was killed in Columbia nearly two years ago. About 40 people gathered last week at the county government complex in Ellicott City for a memorial ceremony for Howard County crime victims. The event, which was attended by officials from the Howard County state's attorney's office and Police Department, commemorated National Victims' Rights Week.
NEWS
By Gus G. Sentementes | April 12, 2008
For Phyllis Bricker, a rare tour yesterday through the Supermax prison - where her parents' killer is housed on death row - was the latest step in a painful odyssey as she awaits an execution that has been on hold for years. "My parents are gone, and he's still here," Bricker said while standing inside the fortified building north of downtown, at the state prison complex on East Madison Street. For Lisa Spicknall, whose husband killed their two children in 1999 and was later slain by another inmate in prison in Jessup, there was some relief.
NEWS
By FROM STAFF REPORTS | April 9, 2008
The General Assembly adjourned at midnight Monday after a 90-day session in which lawmakers passed hundreds of bills and rejected hundreds of others. Among the highlights: Elections The Assembly cleared the way for a special election to fill the remainder of Rep. Albert R. Wynn's term without first holding party primaries. Wynn is leaving Congress to join a lobbying firm. Legislation approved late Monday would let the state central committees choose nominees, sparing taxpayers the cost of a primary election.
NEWS
April 9, 2008
To commemorate National Victims' Rights Week (April 13-19), a public memorial ceremony in remembrance of Howard County crime victims will be held at 7 p.m. on April 16 at the county government's office complex in Ellicott City. The ceremony will be held in the Banneker Room at the George Howard Building, 3430 Courthouse Drive, followed by a candlelight vigil at the Omar J. Jones, Jr. Plaza adjoining the Carroll Building and the George Howard buildings. Light refreshments will be served.
NEWS
By Josh Mitchell | March 18, 2008
A state senator from Baltimore County said he will move this week to ban anyone convicted of a felony from receiving money from a state fund that assists crime victims. Sen. James Brochin, a Democrat who sits on the committee that oversees legislation dealing with the fund, said felons do not deserve awards from the Maryland Criminal Injuries Compensation Board, which was created 40 years ago to reimburse crime victims and their families for medical bills, lost wages and funeral expenses.
NEWS
January 20, 2008
U.S. cuts funding for crime victims Congress trims funding for crime victims, leaving nonprofits, state and local agencies with the prospect of cutting services. Social Services chief resigns The head of the city's Department of Social Services resigns after repeated criticism of the agency for failing to prevent the deaths of children from abuse and neglect. Illegal-immigrant measure defeated Taneytown's council defeats an anti-sanctuary resolution, but members make clear they support full enforcement of existing immigration laws.
NEWS
By Josh Mitchell | January 14, 2008
Crime victims in Maryland might have reduced access to services such as counseling and shelter because of cutbacks in federal aid. For the second straight year, money distributed to the states from the Justice Department's Crime Victims Fund will decline. As part of the recently passed omnibus spending bill, Congress capped disbursements from the fund at $590 million - $35 million less than was spent the year before. Maryland is expected to receive slightly more than $6 million for victim-assistance programs in the 12-month period that began in October, a drop of 17 percent from a peak of nearly $7.4 million two years prior.
NEWS
By Andrea F. Siegel | March 9, 2007
After 14 canceled court dates and nearly 900 days since a former neighbor was charged with capital murder in her mother's 1988 slaying, Jennifer Shereika Scott wrote the latest trial date in pencil. Out of frustration, she and her brother, Dan Shereika, made a request unprecedented in Maryland: They asked a judge for an expedited trial date for the man accused of the crime, Alexander Wayne Watson Jr., and - short of a dire emergency - to stick to it. Their right to attend a trial was being compromised, they argued.