From State Sen. Bob Cassilly:
Friends,
I was disappointed to see the Maryland Senate reject a bill (SB197) this week that would have added the crime of attempted armed carjacking to the list of violent crimes that must be publicly charged in the adult system and not hidden in the secretive juvenile system. Attempted armed carjacking, a crime of increasing frequency, involves physically threatening another person with a gun or other weapon in an attempt to steal their car. It is a very traumatic experience with long term impacts on victims, leaving them fearful, demoralized, and depressed. It undermines the effectiveness of our criminal justice system to process such heinous acts as just one more of the mere juvenile mistakes normally handled in the juvenile courts.
Charging a crime as either “juvenile” or “adult” has major consequences for the public, the victim, and the perpetrator. Charging a crime in the adult system means that the public and the press know about and can follow the crime in the public media. It also means the courts can impose and publicize appropriate punishment to deter others from similar behavior. By contrast, when the crime is prosecuted in the juvenile system, the prosecution is shielded from the public, the crime disappears from public scrutiny, and no punishment can be imposed and publicized to deter others from terrorizing their communities; the juvenile system allows only rehabilitation, not punishment.
Public scrutiny and appropriate punishment are essential to the proper working of our system of justice. While we do not want a system that overly criminalizes every stupid thing a young person might do, there is a huge difference between the stupidity it takes for a juvenile to steal a car and the shear evil it takes for a juvenile to inflict terror and permanent mental scarring upon an innocent person.
Last year former Baltimore City Police Commissioner Kevin Davis testified before the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on which I serve. I asked Commissioner Davis to explain the dramatic increase in violent crime by juveniles. His response was that there are no consequences for bad behavior for juveniles in Baltimore. Effective public scrutiny of our criminal justice system enables society to demand appropriate consequences for bad behavior.
To share your views on these and any other topics I can be reached by email at Bob.Cassilly@senate.state.md.us. You can also follow the hearings and voting on these bills and more online at www.mgaleg.maryland.gov.
Very Truly Yours,
Bob Cassilly
Senator, District 34
Why not just pass a law for attempted armed robbery?
There already is. It is covered under § 3-402. Robbery.
§ 3-402. Robbery
(a) Prohibited. — A person may not commit or attempt to commit robbery.
(b) Penalty. — A person who violates this section is guilty of a felony and on conviction is subject to imprisonment not exceeding 15 years.
Under Mosby there’s not much consequence for adults committing crimes in Baltimore City either…
Dear Senator Cassilly:
Regarding the Senate”s rejection of SB 197, I wholeheartedly agree with your very articulate explanation, of why our State’s lawmaking body erred in rejecting this bill. Our society has become soft on crime, to the detriment of the majority of law abiding citizens. I applaud your effort, support and enlightenment of Maryland citizens on this very important subject.
Well said Mr. Cassilly, these actions should be evident to everyone who reads the news. These characters commit a crime and you read the paper and they have been previously charged and released many many times only to go out and do it again. We need law’s, deterrents and punishment. The other day a young girl was raped by two 14 year old’s and a 12 year old who was carrying a gun, I guess they’ll just get a slap on the wrist and keep committing more serious crimes, and to top it off where are their parents and the outrage from the community. Doing away with the Death Penalty only increased crime and has made our Law Enforcement Officers sitting ducks.
On this particular topic, Cassilly is right. These are crimes that are born of common law and every person is to account for crimes such as these. There is plenty of Constitutional Authority to enforce common law as this is the REAL law of this land. I don’t always agree with Mr. Cassilly, but on this particular issue he is correct. It doesn’t matter if a person is 12 or 120 years in age, these are crimes and the repercussions that follow the victims and the offenders are just in the eyes of the law. Once again, I have to point out that if the parents were allowed to discipline children appropriately then we might not be having this discussion. Give the parents back their God given rights to “bust that butt”.
Corporal punishment for children doesn’t work. Spanking is both ineffective and harmful. Point of fact it makes the problem worse because the long term message to the child is that violence is acceptable. Violence begets violence. Parents DO NOT have any rights “God given” or otherwise to “bust that butt”
Sorry Bob, but you’re wrong. With ideology just like yours we have been rewarded with school shootings on the regular. I think you need to rethink your position on that. If you don’t see the correlation to increased violence in todays youth and the interference in the child rearing process then you are blind. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out….unless of course you’re one of those guys that believe it’s all caused by video games and any other reason that isn’t the fault of the child’s or the interference with the process.
On this I agree with Mr. Crusher. It is a combination of poor parenting, social circumstances, cultural influences, weak punishment, and Cup O’Noodles.
Elaine, I guess we will just have to agree to disagree on this one.
BTW, I like your new name – “Mr. Crusher” – for our colleague. It’s got a nice ring to it. So much better, than “SoulCrusher” or “The Crusher of Souls” 🙂 You have a great day!
Mr. Crusher,
I appreciate your concern about my vision. However, let me assure you I am not “blind”. In fact my eyesight is 20-20, not bad for an old man. How’s your vision? Perhaps a new/stronger pair of glasses will allow you to see things more clearly. 🙂
For your enlightenment below is a link to a Nov 2018 New York Times story:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/05/health/spanking-harmful-study-pediatricians.html
Yawn. I’ve said my bit. You can keep preaching to the brainwashed morons who believe the government and the press can control them. I’m just not one of those people.
Bob, thank you. I try to have good manners. I actually think Mr. Crusher is very smart even though I do not agree with him on some things.
I agree with your assessment of “Mr. Crusher”..