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The April 21 Metro article “Md. court condemns woman’s convictions” addressed a problem that exemplifies much of what is wrong with our criminal law system. As the article reported, the Appellate Court of Maryland, having found that a defendant’s conviction “effectively criminalized her mental health crisis for no legitimate public safety purpose,” nevertheless “grudgingly upheld most of her convictions, saying that they met the letter of the law.”
That a person can be charged with a crime for having acted wrongfully as a result of a conceded mental health crisis is a blot on the prosecutorial system that authorizes it. And that judges who expressly recognize the inequity of such a result nevertheless permit it to stand in the name of the “letter of the law” is another blot on the judiciary, already struggling with questions about its fairness and reasonableness.
Victor M. Glasberg, Alexandria
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