Open Society Institute – Baltimore
Open Society Institute (OSI) – Baltimore : Audacious Thinking For Lasting Change
In the United States, people charged with a crime are known to be innocent until proven guilty. But many of those who are accused spend up to a year in jail awaiting trial because of what transpires during an initial step in the criminal justice process: the bail hearing. There are many problems with bail […]
Peter Edelman, author and Georgetown Law Professor will discuss his most recent publication, Not a Crime to Be Poor: The Criminalization of Poverty in America, with Lester Spence, Johns Hopkins Political Science and Africana Studies Associate Professor.
The Maryland Daily Record reports today that the use of cash bail in Maryland has declined since a new Court of Appeals rule, asking courts to prioritize non-monetary conditions for pretrial release, went into effect in July: In the six months since Maryland’s retooled bail rule went into effect, nearly 60 percent of criminal defendants […]
Listen to University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law professor Doug Colbert and WYPR Statehouse reporter Rachel Baye discuss prospects for bail reform in Maryland with Tom Hall on WYPR’s Midday (discussion begins about 15:30 mark). In a survey prepared by the Pretrial Justice Institute (PJI), with funding from OSI-Baltimore, 70 percent of […]
This week, Ronald Weich, the dean of University of Baltimore’s Law School, published an op-ed in the Baltimore Sun, “More work to be done on Md. bail reform,” in which he discussed the injustices of Maryland’s pretrial justice system which disproportionately keeps poor and minority citizens behind bars for minor crimes they have not yet […]
This week, the Daily Record reported on the recent publication of two studies that suggest that while Maryland’s new pretrial release rule decreased the use of cash bail, additional education and resources are needed. One of the studies, published by the Maryland Office of the Public Defender and funded by Open Society Institute, sent 64 […]
Since 2009, OSI-Baltimore has been presenting this free, public series as a way of sparking sometimes difficult conversations about how race intersects with our lives. In 2018, we partnered with the Pratt Library and Baltimore Ceasefire to present discussions that were particularly relevant to current events, in hopes that they could help guide Baltimore residents […]
From the #unconvicted series. Photo by David Y. Lee Last week attorneys for the six officers charged in connection with the death of Freddie Gray claimed, according to an article in the Baltimore Sun, the money they still owe to bail bondsmen as a condition of their pre-trail release is a “lingering injustice.” This week, […]
This week, the Daily Record published an op-ed from Major Michael R. Merican, assistant sheriff of St. Mary’s County, on the benefits of comprehensive pretrial services programs. Major Merican cites “Steps in the Right Direction: Maryland Counties Leading the Way in Pretrial Services,” the report OSI’s Criminal and Juvenile Justice Program recently published which details […]
The second half-day forum to be held in advance of the Solutions Summit was on Criminal and Juvenile Justice and more than 100 people came together on October 22 to debate and determine the top recommendations to bring to Baltimore’s new city council and newly elected Mayor Catherine Pugh. Ahead of the forum, a planning […]
OSI-Baltimore has permanently closed. It has been our honor and privilege to partner with and serve the Baltimore community for the past 25 years.
This website is available for historical purposes. It is no longer being updated.